Olalekan
Okusan
National
junior sensations – Abayomi Animasahun and Tosin Oribamise will lead 18 others
to the National Training Centre of the Lagos National Stadium for the camping
ahead of the ITTF World Junior Championships in Cape Town, South Africa.
Under
the tutelage of seven-time Olympian, Segun Toriola, the players will be groomed
in readiness for the world championship while the 10-man team will also be
selected at the end of the camping on September 3.
Some of
the invited players were part of the team that featured at the ITTF African
Junior Championship in Algiers where they qualified for the World Juniors,
while outstanding players from the National U-16 tournament also made it to the
camp.
According
to the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, the
camping is necessary as some of the players would gain from the experience of
Toriola, who has been celebrated globally for his consistency and discipline in
the sport.
“We are
blessed with talents just like Aruna Quadri and we don’t want to lose the
momentum by ensuring that we come through with our programmes. This camping
becomes necessary as we want to select the best hands among the junior players
so that they can also test might with their foreign counterparts at the world
juniors. With the experience of Toriola and Michael Oyebode, who were both in
Rio Olympic Games, I am confident that camping would have impart on the players
and prepare them for the championship,” Oshodi said.
He
added: “The selected players will later go into close camping before the
championship in November and they will continue to train in readiness for the
competition. Toriola will surely depart to his base after the camping and we
hope the coaches around can continue to sharpen the skills of the players before
the tournament which has Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia representing
Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.”
The
invited players are Abayomi Animasahun, Azeez Solanke, Amadi Umeh, Michael
Abayomi, Augustine Emmanuel, Jamiu Ayanwale, Ololade Oyenekan, Tobi Falana,
Etim Orok, Babafemi Babatunde and Umar Ibrahim for boys and the girls include
Tosin Oribamise Agnes Onoja, Ajoke Ojomu, Alimot Ayinla, Rofiat Jimoh,
Iyanuoluwa Falana, Vivian Akpan and Sukurat Aiyelabegan.
NTTF
will cater for the players’ feeding and accommodation while their states are
expected to offset their transport fare.
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