•Tennis team walked over in Agadir
•Players absent due to lack of funds, Oshonaike laments
NIGERIA have been walked over from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African Senior Championships. Nigeria, defending champions in the female category, were walked out on Monday following the inability of members of the team to make it to the venue of the championships in Agadir, Morocco.
Yesterday was the opening day of the championships that will run till next Sunday. Top teams from the championships will represent Africa at the World Team Cup and the ITTF World Table Tennis Championship, both in 2017 and the 2018 ITTF World Table Tennis Championship. The implication is that Nigerian tennis players will not be able to take part in the championships having failed to participate in the qualifiers.
Only one Nigerian female table tennis player – Funke Oshonaike – could make it to Morocco before the team’s walkover on Monday. Six-time Olympics player Oshonaike is based in Germany and flew from her base directly to Agadir, where she was expecting to team up with her Nigeria-based colleagues.
A disappointed Oshonaike could not hide her feelings as she took to the social media to lament the situation. “I’m so very sad and disappointed this morning…I’m in Agadir, Morocco to represent Nigeria in African table tennis championship and the female team has just been walked over because I’m the only one here and the others are not here!” Oshonaike wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
“They couldn’t make it because of the Ministry of Sports. No money! We are the champion in Africa and the people in sports couldn’t care less,” Oshonaike, bearer of Nigeria’s flag at the recent Rio Olympics added.
When Tribunesport spoke to a top official of the Ministry of Sports (name withheld) in Abuja on Monday, he asked our reporters to talk to the president of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Mr Wahid Enitan Oshodi, on the development.
However, in her Facebook post, Oshonaike had defended the former Commissioner for Sports in Lagos State, saying he has been of tremendous assistance to Nigerian tennis players. “My dear president Barr Enitan Oshodi has been doing a lot for the development of this sport and even has to pay for some of the guys to be here, but he’s not encouraged at all,” Oshonaike wrote on her wall.
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