Guardian

Wahid Oshodi has never hidden his love for table tennis, a game he served for over a decade as the chairman of the Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA). During this period as the LSTTA boss, many companies willingly came forward to bankroll several tournaments put together by the association. His leadership midwifed so many competitions, including the biggest money-spinning tournament in the country— the Procold Championship. For the first time in the history of the National Sports Festival, Lagos State won majority of the medals at stake in the table tennis event at the 2012 festival hosted by the state, with Oshodi as the state Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development. Recently, Oshodi was elected as the president of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), a development seen by many as the beginning of the new lease of life for table tennis. Fielding questions from OLALEKAN OKUSAN, the lawyer/sports administrator, said Nigeria would regain its position among the comity of table tennis playing nations. He, however, posits that corporate bodies and well-to-do individuals should join hands with government to grow the country’s sports sector. Excerpts:

WHAT inspired you to contest for NTTF presidential election?

There was a lot of pressure from stakeholders, who felt that based on the good work we had done in table tennis in Lagos State over the years, that I probably could assist in transforming the game and bringing the necessary change to the national team, which has lost its place among the top table tennis playing nations of the world.

The support of many credible people and their pledges to support the game as well as the persistence of many of the country’s top players made it very difficult for me to refuse to run for the position. The challenge is one that we hope that the team we have in the Federation now will overcome.

How do you intend to lift table tennis?

As I have previously said, the first step will be to go back to our youth development programmes. There is undoubtedly so much talent in a country the size of Nigeria. We now have to go back to some tried and tested methods to enable us discover the abundant talents at a much younger age so we can harness them quickly and get our top coaches working with these players.

We also have to provide tables and other equipment to enable the young children in our schools play. We will be working through the members of the federations from the six zones and the state coaches in the various states to get to the schools all over the country. We have to stage more competitions at the state, zonal and national levels. This will help our coaches see the players and assess those players who have that extra talent that will take them to the top of the game.

There has to be greater co-ordination between the state associations and the federation. Luckily, having served at all levels of administration of the game I know the type of problems the associations and the clubs face. We have to work very hard to enable table tennis regain its glory.

Coaching is one of the problems bedeviling the game, what are your plans to improve on this?

Our coaches have been the subjects of criticism and I think this is very unfair. Our coaches are working under very sad conditions. Most of them get their National Institute for Sports (NIS) certificates and thereafter, we do not assist them to further their knowledge and catch up with modern techniques. We cannot blame people that we have not equipped to do their work. We have to improve the lot of the coaches and ensure that they are constantly being retrained.

I have already mandated the Federation’s Chief Coach, Nosiru Bello, to come up with necessary international courses to improve the lot of our coaches. We must also tap into the experience of some of our more experienced coaches with regards to training the younger ones. We also have to encourage some of our top professionals, who are coming to the end of their careers, to pass on the knowledge they have garnered over the years to the upcoming coaches.

We have some talented young coaches and we must also assist them to develop. To this end, I must commend the developmental work being done by some of our young coaches like Dotun Omoniyi, Samson Ajayi and Razaq Hamzat, among others. They must be encouraged and I am assured that the chief coach working with the ATTF and ITTF will be doing his utmost to continue to encourage this young coaches.

Fund is key, how do you intend to raise fund to prosecute all the federations’ programmes?

I think the issue of funding of sports is quite key to why so many people supported my candidacy. As far back as 2000 as a board member of Lagos State Sports Council and chairman, Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA), I had realised that government alone cannot adequately fund sports with the resources at its disposal.

Consequently I have always actively sought partnerships with the organised private sector and generous hearted individuals, who appreciate the part sports can play in the development and growth of these young athletes. We have started actively engaging the private sector and we are quite hopeful that in the next couple of months we will be announcing long-term partnerships that will support the growth of the game.

Funding is not only in monetary terms. We are looking at media partnerships, and partnerships in kind. We are looking at all areas that can help the growth of the game. We have a lot of work to do to enable us catch up with the world. We must give our players the right equipment by providing tables and allowances for our top players. We need to stage international competitions here in Nigeria so that our players can test themselves against the best in Africa, the Commonwealth and the world. All these will cost money but we are quietly confident that with the plans we have we can successfully attract partnerships for the good of the game.

How do you intend to woo back sponsors and fans to the game?

I have stated in the past that it is futile to believe that you can attract sponsors without giving them commensurate benefits for the money they spend. Sponsors are in main business people and they have their eyes on things that will enhance their sales. We must attract sufficient publicity for our sponsors.

We must package our competitions in ways that will show off our sponsors in the best light. We must give our sponsors the option of using our top international players to affiliate and promote their products. In doing this we must also ensure transparency and accountability in our dealings with them.

This is a reputation that we have built working with our sponsors over the years and we must continue to account for all funds we receive and direct the funds to purposes for which they are meant.

We must also engage the state governments for whatever assistance they can give us. I must commend the Cross River State governor for all the support extended to the Federation through our Vice President, Orok Duke. And of course my Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola. It is this type of invaluable support we will be actively seeking as it enables us to expose our players to international tournaments, which are key to their development.

How would Nigeria halt Egypt’s dominance in Africa?

I have said many times that in any sphere of life, for you to get to the top legitimately you must be innovative and work very hard.

Firstly, we must strengthen our developmental programmes, empower our coaches and equip our players properly. We must also see how we can assist our top players. But I think importantly we must focus on three things. Improvement of our discovery programmes to enable us get our talents at a much earlier age, improvement of our coaches’ knowledge and early exposure of our best young talents to international competitions.

Egypt has been working very hard for many years with the best equipment, but I am sure that with hard work and our talent pool we can regain our number one position in Africa.

I am very excited by some of the talent in our cadet category. Young Tosin Oribamise from Ekiti State is the brightest talent I have seen in many years in table tennis since the great Bose Kaffo. With the right coaching in place I believe she is a future African Champion. It is talents like hers that encourages me to do the work I do in table tennis.

The work we do in the next one year will bear us out at the next All Africa Games. I believe that if we can combine the experience of some of our players like Toriola, Offiong, Oshonaike and the youthful dynamism of Quadri, Ajetunmobi and the excellent skills of young Ojo Onaolapo coupled with some other brighter talents we can regain our place. But you must note that Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and countries like South Africa are not relaxing.

We must train better and we must attend international competitions. Our players must get the Pro Circuit so that they can test themselves against the best. You will recall that it was when we sponsored Quadri on the pro tour that he managed to secure a good professional contract in Portugal. We must find ways to get our best players on the tour.