Nigeria pick eight for W/Africa table tennis championship

Category: Sports Published on Thursday, 14 February 2013 05:00 Written by -

Eight players are to represent the country at the West Africa Table Tennis Cadet Championships in Cote d’Ivoire in February, an official of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has said.

Nasiru Bello, the Head Coach of NTTF, said in an interview yesterday in Lagos that four boys and four girls would participate in the cadet championships.

“We have many slated championships this year but this month we have the West Africa Cadet Championships coming up in Cote d’Ivoire.

“We intend to feature in the event holding between Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 with four boys and four girls who are upcoming players,” he said but did not disclose their names. (NAN)

Bello said the players for the championships were discovered at the recent National School Sports Festival in Port Harcourt, adding that the NTTF planned to test them.

“We are trying to experiment with the team, we want to start focusing on those at the grassroots because they will eventually move to the junior and senior categories,” he said.

He also assured Nigerians that the team would not disappoint as they had been training for three weeks but admitted that Cote d’Ivoire and Togo were threats.

“We have been grooming the players for the past three weeks now and I know we will do well at the championships.

“In West Africa, I do not think we have many rivals, the countries I know that we may encounter little problems with are the host and Togo,” he said. (NAN)