We’ve Raised Nigeria Table Tennis Profile Globally – NTTF Boss

2016 has been an eventful year for table tennis in Nigeria particularly with the impact of Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, believes with more funding and commitment of the players, Nigeria has the wherewithal to become the lone voice for table tennis in Africa.

Wahid Oshodi President of the NTTF

Plans for 2017?

More grassroots tournaments workshops and coaching clinics to enable us discover more players all over the country. Enabling our coaches with the opportunity to further develop their knowledge so they can better harness the skills of our young players and finding the resources to expose our best players to life on the professional tour at both junior and senior level. Funding is key to all this. We start the year with five of our players taking part in the Hungary Open the first pro tour of the event of the year. It is difficult financially but we continue to try.

On the plans to honours for table tennis stars like Atanda Musa, Yomi Bankole, Olawunmi Majekodunmi?

I think this is an area where the Federal Ministry of Sports should be looking to take the lead. They are great athletes across different sports who have served this country conscientiously and deserve national honours. We in the Federation will continue to play our part by honouring them during our tournaments, naming our awards after them to inspire the young players and ensuring that their contributions are always remembered.

Gains and challenges as NTTF boss?

I don’t want to start listing the gains but my joy and happiness comes out from the fact that we have been able to raise the profile of the sport and that we can boast of world class players. We intend to do more but this also depends of the availability of funds. In our own way we have been engaging our players (senior and junior) with some of them playing at international levels. Funding is a major challenge because apart from organising tournaments at local level, these players must also be exposed internationally and that is why the fund is very vital. The most important gain I believe is that we are back at the top table of all aspects of world table tennis in terms of players, umpires and administrators.

Aruna Quadri’s rising profile globally?

Aruna Quadri has raised the bar for African players –ITTF Africa

Aruna Quadri is a product of hardwork and dedication because we cannot start saying that investing in him alone is what has been paying off but his own involvement and dedication to the sport made it possible for him to get to where he is today. We have a lot of players with the quality of Aruna Quadri in the country and they just need to instill ore hard work and dedication. They should take a cue from the likes of Aruna, Segun Toriola and Funke Oshonaike, whom I believe have become great examples to others with their commitment to the sport. Aruna Quadri has more than justified whatever investments myself and a few others have made over the years. He is a source of great pride and joy to us.

Early birthday celebrations for Aruna, Africa’s first ever Olympic table tennis quarterfinalist!

Every Nigerian player is a threat to any team because they have distinct skills that give them edge over others. Their never-say-die spirit coupled with all other talents, they are considered as major players in the game. Aruna is adored all over the world not only because of his great skills but also because of his humility and willingness to always showcase the best in our sport. He is a respected player worldwide.

On contribution of Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike?

ITTF President, Thomas Weikert; Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive; inductee, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and Croatia’s Zoran Primorac during the special award to Toriola as the first African to attend seven Olympic Games in Rio on Friday August 12, 20016.

Moving to coaching is a player’s personal decision. But already we are encouraging our top senior players to give back to the game by holding clinics for the junior players where they can impart their vast knowledge and latest techniques to the younger players. We have done this with Toriola a couple of times in the last year and Funke Oshonaike is set to hold one in the first quarter of 2017. In this way we can ensure that they assist our coaches in bringing up the next generation of players.

African Women’s Table Tennis Single’s Champion Funke Oshonaike

Winning Olympic medal in Table Tennis?

We just need to continue to work hard and expose our players to the latest techniques at a much younger age. We need to find the funding to take the players on the junior and senior pro tours where they can test themselves against the best in the world. The competition is very fierce at the top with the powerful Asian and European teams who invest a lot of money and give their players the right training and exposure very early in their careers.

On the performance of Nigeria at 2016 World Junior Championships?

Nigeria’s Team To The ITTF African Junior And Cadet Championship

Overall it was a relatively good performance in the circumstances. It was the first international tournament for many of the players which meant they were quite nervous and the loss of the team captain who could not make it to the tournament made it a bit more difficult especially for the girls team. But all in all it was quite a useful test and the experience gained will assist in fast tracking the development of this young talented boys and girls.

Also, we need to work hard coupled with discipline and progressive coaching. You can always see that from the best teams here. Japan for example with 10 coaches and other support staff numbering over 30 just to ensure that the players lack nothing We need to organise more junior tournaments and training camps across the country. We need to give chances to players all over the country. The large numbers of young players we have discovered need to get the much needed exposure. That means we need to find the funding to conduct training camps and the best of them need to go on the ITTF Junior Circuit where they can consistently play against the best young talent in the world and develop their game.

Competing favourable against European and Asian teams?

NTTF President, Wahid Oshodi with winner of the day in the girls event, Sukurat Aiyelabegan at the U-16 league in Lagos

We need to find the funding to give the players the opportunity for better coaching. They need to attend tournaments. We need more sponsors to come onboard and assist in setting up more tournaments where we can get these children to showcase their talent. We must continue to appeal to the private sector and individuals to help us in tackling the challenge in sports. We all know the economic situation in the country but sports plays such a critical role in developing the youth, creation of job and tourism opportunities, we must not relent in finding ways to find the needed funds.

Quadri, Toriola, To Get Improved ITTF Ranking in September

There are strong indications that Africa’s best table tennis player at Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Aruna Quadri will lead his compatriots – Segun Toriola, Edem Offiong and Olufunke Oshonaike for an improved rating when the September ITTF ranking is released this weekend.

Ranked 40th before the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil and seeded 27 in the men’s singles, Quadri’s heroic performance against some of the world’s best including former world number one, Germany’s Timo Boll will count for the Nigeria when the new ranking is made known by the world table tennis ruling body.

Already listed among the top 20 players in the world that will compete at this year’s ITTF Men’s World Cup in Germany, the Oyo State-born star will be aiming for another record ranking as he had already been rated 25 in the world based on his performance in Brazil. But the September ranking may move Quadri higher.

Also, a member of the ITTF Club 7, Segun Toriola will also benefit from the ranking after his first round win over Czech Republic’s Dmitrij Prokopcov, who was rated higher than the Nigerian.

The Czech was rated 79th but he was shown the exit by Toriola, who was ranked 120 in the world. What would have been another big win for Toriola was thwarted by 22nd ranked Japan’s Niwa Koki in the third round with a 4-2 win.

Despite exiting the Olympic Games in the first round, the duo of Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong will also get improved ranked after recording victory in their preliminary round of the women’s singles in Brazil.

Olufunke Oshonaike (NGR) after escaping a scare in the preliminary round of the women’s singles in Rio on Saturday, August 6. PHOTO: ITTF

At a time when Nigerian players will be moving up the ranking, their counterparts from Egypt will be dropping after their surprise exit in Rio. Dina Meshref, Nadeen El-Dawlatly, Khaled Assar and the North African inspiration star, Omar Assar were shown the doors early in Rio.

Aside from Omar Assar, the trio of Meshref, El-Dawlatly and Khaled played only one match to be bundled out of the tournament.

Unlike his compatriots – Omar Assar fought his way into the second round after being beaten by Ukraine’s Lei Kou 4-3. Omar Assar may drop further in the latest ranking from his 55th ranked place in August 2016.

NIGERIAN CLUB MAKES OLYMPIC HISTORY – By Akeem Busari.

Nigerian youth side, 36 Lion football club has gone into the history books of the Olympic games, as the first African youth team to produce three Olympians in one Olympic event.

This was made possible as the Lagos based non league side had three of its academy graduates namely Ezekiel Imoh, Saliu Popoola and Oluwafemi Ajayi jnr, featuring in games for the bronze medal winning Nigeria U23 team at the Rio 2016 Olympic games.

Oluwafemi Ajayi Ezekiel, Saliu Popoola and Ezekiel Imoh
photo credit: Hajji Gafar

Expectedly, this remarkable feat did not go unnoticed as world renowned Brazilian sports channel, Globo TV, went out to seek the president of the club, Alhaji Gafar Olawale Liameed, in his hotel to speak on the historic feat.

Responding to questions, he said, “We play football 24 hours a day and if you can survive our camp, you will be able to compete and do well at any stage,” he boasted gleefully.

He went on to express that the achievement of producing three players for the Dream team, makes him happy and proud. As he was quick to attribute that to collective sincerity and hard work.

“You know, hard work brings success. I will also say that collective sincerity within the coaches, the players and the parents, played a huge role.

Speaking further, he told the television crew that the uniqueness of his team is also the zeal to make a positive difference in youth development.

Liameed Gafar with Globo Tv Crew
photo credit: Hajji Gafar

Conclusively, the football entrepreneur who is fondly known as the Lion King, stated his desire to improve upon the recent feat.

“Let me state that we shall do everything to sustain this achievements by working harder and collectively for the benefits of Nigerian football. We also hope to improve our scouting system and by the grace of God, we shall continue to get better in all our dealings and possibly produce more players for the country’s team to Tokyo 2020, “he enthused confidently.

Russia Win Fifth Consecutive Olympic Title In Rhythmic Group Gymnastics

Russia won its fifth consecutive Olympic title in Rhythmic Group Gymnastics Sunday, continuing a golden tradition established 16 years ago in Sydney. The victory, coming 24 hours after Margarita Mamun’s individual title, gives Russia a complete sweep of the gold medals in Rhythmic Gymnastics since 2000.

But the Russians did not dominate the competition from start to finish. The team (Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva, Maria Tolkacheva, Anastasia Bliznyuk and Vera Biriukova) finished behind Spain in Saturday’s qualification round, and trailed the Spanish by 0.2 after the first routine in Sunday’s new life final.

A bobble with a Ribbon even left the Russian Group third at the halfway point, though within striking distance of the leaders. The 2015 World champions closed the gap with an inspired performance with the 2 Hoops/3 Pairs of Clubs to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” earning the highest score in Group competition in Rio and rendering them impossible to catch.

The gold makes a double Olympic champion of Anastasia Bliznyuk, the sole holdout from the London 2012 team. Bliznyuk is only the third Rhythmic Group gymnast to win two gold medals in Olympic competition.

20 years after gold, Spain shines in silver

After their fourth place finish four years ago, Sandra Aguilar, Elena Lopez, Lourdes Mohedano, Alejandra Quereda and newcomer Artemi Gavezou came to Rio determined not to leave empty-handed this time. Their silver medal marks their first podium finish since 1996, when the country won the inaugural Olympic title in Rhythmic Group.

The Russian Group

Bulgaria bronzed 12 years after Athens

Like Spain, Bulgaria returned four of its five members from 2012. With bronze, Reneta Kamberova, Lyubomira Kazanova, Mihaela Maevska, Tsvetelina Naydenova and Hristiana Todorova capped off a successful quadrennium that included the World title in 2014. They brought the country its third Olympic medal, following bronze in 2004 and silver in 1996.

It was Italy’s fate to taste the bitterness of a chocolate medal. The Italians shut out Spain by a mere half a point four years ago, but the “Butterflies,” as they are known at home, found themselves the odd team out this time, 0.217 behind Bulgaria. Belarus, Israel, Ukraine and Japan rounded out the eight-team field.

NFF Reacts To Sports Minister, Dalung’s insinuations

. We have no partnership with Delta Airline
. Our FIFA Match Agent acted in best interest of Nigeria

The Nigeria Football Federation has rejected insinuations by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung in a television interview that the issue of Nigeria Olympic football team being stranded in Atlanta, United States of America was a hoax.

Chairman of the NFF Media and Publicity Committee, Hon. Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande, who is a ranking member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, said the entire Board was shocked by the insinuations, as the NFF President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, had been giving them updates of useful meetings he has been having with the Sports Minister since he arrived in Brazil on Tuesday.

“The NFF Board and Management are taken aback by these insinuations. The NFF President has been telling us of meeting between him and the Minister on how to avoid the kind of situation we got into in the USA in the future. So, the Minister’s latest statements are a bombshell.

“We are not openly challenging the Minister, but we must set the records straight. To start, we do not have any partnership with Delta Airlines, a company that we owe much gratitude for the way it came to the rescue to airlift our team to Brazil. The names of NFF’s partners and sponsors are known to the public.

“Secondly, the NFF is not aware of any receipt that was presented to the Minister for airlifting the U23 team from Atlanta to Manaus. I am aware that the Minister himself requested for the phone number of our FIFA Match Agent (Mr. Jairo Pachon, who has been working with the NFF since 2009) when everybody became desperate about how the team would go to Brazil. The NFF President gave him the phone number, and the Minister himself asked Mr. Pachon to go ahead and charter an aircraft, and Pachon reverted that the amount would be $174,000, as against the $300,000 that was bandied earlier. However, the money did not reflect in the airline company’s bank account within the deadline it gave to us, so the service was cancelled. We insist that Mr. Pachon acted in the best interest of Nigeria.”

Yahaya-Kwande also took the opportunity to react to earlier allegations of the Federation bloating the football team’s list. “Which persons did we increase the team with? There were two alternate players, the team media officer, the team coordinator, the team’s equipment manager and the team’s technical officer, who have always been part of the team’s crew, and who by global standard are required by the team. When it was made clear that they would no longer be taken care of, we told them to return to Nigeria.

“As I speak with you, the only NFF top officials at the Olympics are the NFF Technical Director and the NFF President. I would like to be proved wrong on this.

“The NFF Board has always displayed integrity in all its financial dealings and have always communicated to the Minister on every financial transaction and detail. On this too, we would like to be proved wrong.”

Quadri Confirms Africa’s Relevance – ATTF

The President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy has said that the performance of Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri is a confirmation of Africa’s relevance in table tennis worldwide. He believes the 2014 ITTF Star Player is a pride to Africa in Brazil.

Early birthday celebrations for Aruna, Africa’s first ever Olympic table tennis quarterfinalist!

He added that the heroic performance of Aruna Quadri is a confirmation of Africa’s relevance in global table tennis.

“I must admit that all the African players did their best in the singles, while the extra ordinary outcome was through Aruna Quadri for his superb performance against the top ITTF ranked players like Chinese Taipei’s CHUANG Chih-Yuan and Germany’s Timo BOLL. In my opinion the achievement of Aruna Quadri in Rio will be of great impact to Africa and all players as well as help to break all barriers, raising the ceiling of ambitious players at all World and Olympic title events regardless of their opponents,” the ATTF boss said.

He added: “Simply, Aruna Quadri is perfect, full of energy and trust his skills with good preparation. He also put his mind in the game to fly the flag of Nigeria and Africa at the Olympic Games.”

On what young players can emulate from Quadri, he said: “They have to follow the foot step of Aruna Quadri in terms of preparation, dedication in training and with this nothing is impossible.”

ITTF President, Thomas Weikert; Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive; inductee, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and Croatia’s Zoran Primorac during the special award to Toriola as the first African to attend seven Olympic Games in Rio on Friday August 12, 20016.

For Segun Toriola, the memory of Rio 2016 Olympic Games would live with him forever after the former African champion was honoured by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) as the first African to feature in seven Olympic Games. “It was a very special moment to receive the award,” Toriola said.

Chinese Women Defends Table Tennis Gold in Style in Rio

The Chinese women’s team have successfully defended the Gold title they earned four years ago in London, to clinch another Gold for China’s medal count, crushing Germany 3-0 in the final.

Grand Slam Champion LI Xiaoxia ended her international table tennis career in style, continuing her 3-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-7) swept against HAN Ying (GER). The world number four have previously announced her retirement from international play after her semifinals match against Singapore.

LI have shared earlier “The Women’s Team final might be the last time I’m representing my country to compete. My goal will be to win, but the most important thing to show my best self on court.”

The 28-year-old has not dropped a single game since the Team event started, and even in the Singles event, the Singles Silver medalist has only dropped four games to the eventual Champion DING Ning (CHN) throughout the entire Olympic Games in Rio.

Missing out on the Singles event, world number one LIU Shiwen (CHN) was on task to stamp her authority in the team event. The four-time Women’s World Cup Champion gave no chance for Petrissa SOLJA (GER) to fight back, defeating the world number fifteen 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-4) to give China a 2-0 lead for her first Olympic Gold.

LIU joined forces with Singles Champion DING Ning (CHN) to face German pair of SOLJA and SHAN Xiaona. The German duo put up a brave fight, but the combination of the world number one and two proved too strong for them, and China prevailed 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7) to seal the victory in the Gold medal match.

China defends Women’s Team Gold title in Rio

Winning her first Olympic medal in Rio, an excited LIU shared “It’s a dream for everyone to win an Olympic medal, so this is perfect.”

DING added “We are a team so we do everything together and trust each other. Sometimes at this level we don’t think we just play.”

Despite losing the Gold medal, Germany has secured the Silver medal, which is Germany’s first Women’s Olympic Table Tennis medal, and first for Europe since Seoul 1988.

The Bronze medal went to Japan, who defeated Singapore 3-1 earlier yesterday.

More table tennis action continues today with the Men’s Bronze and Gold medal matches to conclude the Rio 2016 Table Tennis event:

Bronze medal match: Korea Republic VS Germany – 11:00am Rio time (GMT-3)
Gold medal match: China VS Japan – 19:30pm Rio time (GMT-3)

Burling and Tuke Wrap Up Rio2016 Kiwi 49er Gold With Medal Race To Spare

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) have won the 49er Men’s gold medal with the Medal Race to spare after dominating the 20-boat fleet at Rio 2016 over the past week.

The New Zealanders have gone undefeated in major competition in the 49er fleet since taking the silver medal at London 2012. They have won all four of the last World Championships and were expected to deliver gold for New Zealand this week. Even Burling and Tuke might be surprised at the ease with which they’ve managed their extraordinary feat, however.

Burling and Tuke

Behind them the battle rages on for the other medals, with Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel (GER) holding second place in front of the 2012 Olympic Champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS).

Burling and Tuke celebrate with coach Hamish Willcox

Andy Rice
World Sailing

Germany Through to The Women’s Table Tennis Team Gold Medal Match

Germany is through to the Women’s Team final to be guaranteed a podium finish after beating Japan 3-2 in a 5-match thriller that lasted four grueling hours and ended with a controversial edge ball.

Both teams started with their youngest players 15 year Mima ITO (JPN) and 22-year-old Petrissa SOLJA (GER) to fight for a 1-0 advantage. In their encounter at the 2015 ITTF World Tour German Open Women’s Singles final, ITO won the duel 4-2 to become the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour Singles title, at 14 years and 152 days old. Today it was SOLJA who prevailed 3-2 to give Germany the perfect start.

After world number six Kasumi ISHIKAWA’s efforts to win two matches for Japan, HAN Ying ended Japan’s hopes into the final, beating Ai FUKUHARA 3-2. The match ended the last point on a controversial edge ball, which Japan argued did not hit the top of the table. The referee was called and supported the umpire’s decision that the ball hit to guarantee Germany a medal.

The victory means a first ever women’s Olympic table tennis medal for Germany, and the Europe’s first women’s medal since 1988 where Yugoslavia won bronze in the Women’s Doubles.

Commenting on the edge ball, Germany’s hero HAN Ying stated: “I was sure that it was on the table, not outside. It was a good edge, an edge that counts as a point, but I can also understand that the Japanese wanted to fight until the end. She wanted to use all the chances somehow, go on and play but it was for sure a good point.”

Winning the opening match for Germany, SOLJA shared “We all played with our hearts. We are super happy and can’t believe it. They were favorites going in. My head is spinning and I can’t speak my thoughts are everywhere. We needed a bit of luck and play our best to have a chance.”

Germany will now play the winners of the second Semifinal between China and Singapore, which will be played tomorrow morning at 10am Rio time (-3GMT), with Japan waiting for the loser to play off for Bronze.

In the Men’s Team event it was quarterfinal time, with defending champions China on course to defend their title from London 2012 after a commanding 3-0 victory over Great Britain.

The Brits puts up a strong show against the world number one team that boasts the Olympic Singles Gold and Silver medalists, MA Long and ZHANG Jike, plus the world number three XU Xin. However, China’s class shone through, and Great Britain were not able to repeat their semifinal appearance at the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

Han Ying clinches a dramatic point to put Germany through to the gold medal match. Credit: Remy Gros.

After the match XU commented: “The Great Britain team already made it to the semifinals of the World Championships, and almost made it through to the final, so it may seem to everyone that they are the dark horse. But for us, we are already prepared for a tough match against them. We watch their match footages to study them for hours last night to get ready for this match.”

“I think they are a strong team, one of the top teams in Europe now, and they even defeated Germany at the World Championships group stage, so we are happy with this win today.”

To make the final, China will have to beat Korea Republic, who they defeated in the London 2012 gold medal match four years ago. The Koreans accounted for former table tennis super power Sweden in a pulsating match 3-1, which was much closer than the score line indicated.

After their surprise early exits from the Men’s Singles event to miss out on an Olympic Singles medal, former world number one Timo BOLL and London 2012 Singles Bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV were eager to stamp their authorities upon the reigning European Team Champions Austria.

Together with teammate Bastian STEGER, the German trio won all their three singles matches 3-0 convincingly to take revenge for their bitter defeat at the 2015 European Team Championships Men’s Team final with a 3-1 win over Austria, dropping the doubles match to the Austrian duo of Robert GARDOS and Daniel HABESOHN.

The Japanese team led by Rio 2012 Bronze medalist Jun MIZUTANI had to come back three straight matches from 0-1 to overcome Hong Kong 3-1 to claim the last ticket to the Men’s Team semifinals. MIZUTANI was the hero of the day for Japan, winning both his matches, before his teammate Maharu YOSHIMURA sealed the final victory by upsetting world number eight WONG Chun Ting.

Van Niekerk Brakes Michael Johnson’s World Record To Win The 400m at The Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Wayde van Niekerk broke Michael Johnson’s world record* to win the 400m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in a stunning time of 43.03.

The South African, running in lane eight, went out hard, knowing that the past two Olympic champions – Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt – were on his inside.

Merritt appeared to be closing on Van Niekerk coming into the home straight, but the world champion was able to respond and maintained his form down to the line, stopping the clock at 43.03.

Van Niekerk’s time took 0.15 off the record Johnson set at the 1999 IAAF World Championships in Seville.

Van Niekerk Brakes Michael Johnson’s World Record To Win The 400m at The Rio 2016 Olympic Games
photo credit: © Getty Images/IAAF

James edged ahead of Merritt to take silver in 43.76, while Merritt crossed the line in 43.85 to take bronze. Machel Cedenio of Trinidad and Tobago was fourth in a national record of 44.01.

In a race of unprecedented depth, the top seven men all finished within 44.50 and all finalists ran faster than 44.70.