Lagos State Table Tennis Association holds the first table tennis championship – Table tennis update
The Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) organised a one day championship for local players, held at Mobolaji Johnson Indoor sports hall (Rowe Park), Yaba.
Table tennis is not amongst the popular sports in the country and such events play an important role in developing table tennis and players.
There were a total of 64 players who participated in the one-day championship. The event was held in the honour of the State Governor of the Lagos State. Babatunde Fashola was re-elected for the second time as the Executive Governor of
the State.
The championship was called the ‘Victory Cup 2011’ by the chairman of LSTTA, Olumuyiwa Noah. The event will also serve as a platform to select players according to their performances for the National Sports Festival and All African Games.
Both events are scheduled to be held in a month or so.
Olumuyiwa Noah, said, “Already, we have opened camp in preparation for the National Sports Festival.”
The players are going through an intensive training programme to compete in the up-coming event. At present, there are 35 athletes participating in the training camp. For the competitions, only 12 players who will show extraordinary performances
during the camp will be selected for the finals.
The chairman was proud to organise the first major table tennis tournament of the year, as there are no events of this sort held in the region.
Olumuyiwa Noah, expressed his views on the current playing scenario of the sport in the region and said, “The trend of not having enough tournaments is having a negative impact on developmental table tennis in this country. The reason
why some other African countries are doing better than us is because they have a virile developmental programme and we must go back to that if we want table tennis to thrive in this country.”
None of the players from the LSTTA is featuring in the World Table Tennis Championship. They have never participated in any major international table event and the one-day championship is a new ray of hope for the local players.
Tags: