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How Nigerian table tennis players can reach their full potential — LSTTA Chairman
Tunji Lawal, Chairman, Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) says Nigerian table tennis players can reach their full potential with the right mentality ,the right fitness level and adequate exposure.
Lawal said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony of the ‘Break the Bias, She Can’ initiative in Lagos.
The programme was organised by Additional Plus Sports and Education Initiative (APSE) in partnership with Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC).
NAN reports that ‘Break the Bias, She Can’, is a programme designed to train school girls in taekwando and table tennis as well as provide them with political education.
50 girls graduated at the ceremony, held at the Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba, Lagos.
Lawal said Nigerian players were not doing better than many of their opponents in other countries because they do not have the right mentality,the right fitness level as well as adequate exposure.
He said the poor performance of the country’s players at the recently-concluded World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender in Lagos was a proof that they needed to do a lot to match their counterparts in China ,Korea and elsewhere.
`The rate at which international players are exposed, going from one tournament to another, their training regimes, and the facilities at their disposal ,are the reasons they are better than our players.
“These players are always careful about what they eat; they don’t indulge in junks and they also monitor their diets.However, Nigerian players don’t have same.They eat whatever comes their way.
“To me, an average Nigerian player is kind of overweight for the game ,and so, finds it difficult to keep up with the standard of the game.
“Nigerian players lack fitness in terms of movement, foot work, agility and other technicalities. We seriously need to restrategise”,he said .
Lawal added: ” Being a professional is a holistic thing; It is not about knowing how to play alone, it is about what you eat and your mentality.
“Athletes must be flexible.They must have pace and be able to move easily.So the way to go now is to encourage the younger ones to take over from the older ones.
“Hana Goda of Egypt became an African Champion at a very young age of 12 , now going to 15 years. She started at a very young age.
“This is why we are encouraging more youngsters in table tennis and encouraging academies to spring up all over Nigeria.”
Lawal said he believed the future of table tennis is bright in Nigeria and that the country should focus on discovering young talents and nurture them to become world champions .
He said ‘Break Bias ,She Can ” initiative was conceived to provide opportunities for young girls and help them to grow in the game.
“The future is bright . We can have players to replace someone like Funke Oshonaike and do better in the global stage.
“If the likes of Aruna Quadri can develop from the street without much support, with opportunity like the `Break the Bias, She Can’ the children can have a better opportunity.
“Our young children can grow with better system, so we are working assiduously to create a better system which will work for us just as it is being done abroad,” he said.
Lawal also urged the state governments to invest in table tennis in order to develop the sport.
He appealed to the Lagos State Government to help with sports infrastructure in order to aid the development young athletes.
“We want to implore the state governments ,especially, the Lagos State to support us and provide enough facilities to be able to develop this game. Lagos was once the best state in table tennis ,while Nigeria was the best in Africa.
“Today, we are struggling to keep up right now because there are no tables, no facilities, no playing hall and all of these are affecting the sport in Lagos.
“As an association, we are doing our best to give all that we can to make the game grow.
“Our Asoju Oba Table Tennis Championship this year will be better- organised. And being the fifth year, the grand prize will be bigger because we are in talks with the sponsors,” he said.
Reading books ,writing materials and certificates of participation were presented to participants at the graduation ceremony.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a woman in an accident at Okpoko Market on the Asaba-Onitsha Road.
The Sector Commander, Mr Adeoye Irelewuyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Awka on Thursday, said that the woman was hit while she was crossing the road.
He said that the accident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a commercial tow truck with registration number XA550BMA.
“Eyewitness report reaching us indicates that the truck was towing a vehicle in an uncontrollable speed along the axis.
“The vehicle that was being towed got detached from the tow truck.
“It hit and killed a female adult, who was said to be crossing the road, while the tow truck continued its movement.
“FRSC rescue team came to the scene and took the woman to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, where she was confirmed dead and her body deposited at the hospital’s mortuary,” he said.
While sympathising with the family of the dead, the sector commander urged motorists, especially tow truck drivers, to exercise a high level of professionalism.
He also urged the drivers to always use standard equipment and avoid speeding.
The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said the state government’s maize palliative to members of the association made a positive impact on the sector.
Iyiola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
“We received about 150,000 tons of maize in February from the Lagos State government as palliative to cushion the effect of high feed prices.
“The major benefit of the palliative is that it actually cushioned the cost of production for most poultry farmers in the state.
“The palliative was beneficial as it made the cost of some poultry produce, especially eggs to drop,” Iyiola said.
He noted that prior to the palliative, a crate of egg was sold between N3,500 and N3,700 at the farm gate, but after the palliative, it now sells between N3,200 and N3,400.
According to the PAN chair, retailers and middlemen who sell from N3,800 to N4,200 do that for their personal gain.
“We have urged our members to sell their eggs at reasonable prices following the receipt of the palliative from the government.
“We appreciate the Lagos State government for the palliative but we also urge the federal government to do likewise, to further reduce the cost of production in the sector.
“This will consequently lead to drop in the prices of all poultry produce across board,” he said.
He said the palliative was shared among financial members of the association at no extra cost.
“As an association we shared the grains equally across PAN’s eight zones in the state equally. We also mandated each zone not the sell even a grain of the maize.
“We, however, considered new poultry farmers who wanted to the join the association as beneficiaries of the palliative,” said Iyiola.
He noted that through the palliative, more poultry farmers were recruited into the association.
“The maize was shared only to poultry farmers and not feed millers, it is the major component of poultry feed formulation,” he said.
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