‘Toriola is a role model’

PRESIDENT of the International Table Tennis Federation-ITTF Africa, Khaled El-Salhy, has said Nigeria’s Segun Toriola remains a role model to budding players on the continent given his exploits so far.

He made the remarks during the presentation of award to the seven-time Olympian at the 2016 ITTF Africa Senior Championships which ended on Wednesday in Agadir, Morocco.

Tributes were freely poured on Toriola, who became the first African to participate at seven Olympics with his appearance at the Rio Olympics.

El-Salhy believes Toriola serves as a role model for young players in Africa.

“Toriola’s commitment to table tennis is 100 per cent and this is why he will remain an inspiration to young players in Africa. He is also an ambassador of Table Tennis when it comes to fair play. His excellent performance at every competition, coupled with his humility are traits that singled him out among other players in Africa,” he told ITTF Africa.com.

He also defended the award to Toriola, who beat Dmitrij Prokopcov of the Czech Republic 4-2 at Rio 2016 Olympics before he lost in the second round to Japanese Niwa Koki.

“It was the decision of the executive council (of ITTF Africa) to give such award to Segun Toriola, who is a legend of table tennis, not only in Africa, but also in the world following his great achievement of being the first African to make seven appearances at the Olympic Games from 1992 to 2016. We also believe that he [Toriola] has the chance to break his own record by making it to Tokyo 2020, with the quality he still possesses,” El-Salhy said.

Meanwhile, Toriola after a 2-0 lead bowed 2-3 to Mohamed El-Beiali at the just-ended senior African championship in Morocco, as Nigeria’s team lost the African title 2-3 to Egypt.