Sports
Tikon Explains Decision To Camp With Players In Lagos
Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) President, Ishaku Tikon, is thrilled at the forthcoming three-tier International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) events slated for the Molade Okoya Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos from May 19 to 28.
Tidesports source reports that the competitions held in Lagos are the 2022 World Championships regional qualification, African Club Championships and African Cup.
Speaking to newsmen last Wednesday, Tikon said all necessary logistics are being put in place to make the championships a huge success, adding that athletes are already in camp, sweating it out to make the cut as the country’s representatives.
“I am personally here at the Table Tennis section of the National Stadium with the players, who are currently participating in the trials to pick the country’s representatives. That will tell you how prepared we are.
“If I, the president, will come to sit with the athletes to monitor and watch the trials, then you should know how serious and committed we are to the ITTF events.
“For the trials, we have Team A and Team B in case of injury to any player that will eventually be picked to represent the country. The essence of the plan Team B is that whomever we choose to replace an injured player is also capable of representing the country.
“Every African country taking part in table tennis is expected to be here because it is an ITTF ranking event. Last year, we were all in Cameroun and in the same way, everybody will converge also in Nigeria. African’s top ranked athletes like Quadri Aruna and others are expected to be at the championships,” he said.
Tikon assured table tennis fans that Nigeria would host a successful tournament, saying that,they should expect fireworks during the championships.
“That is what I am expecting and the fans too should expect the best of table tennis,” he stated.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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