The seventh edition of the Adegboyega Efunkoya National Cadet Table Tennis Championship will hold from Aug. 11 to Aug. 15 at the Indoor Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The annual championship, organized by the Efunkoya Sports Foundation in partnership with the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, will feature a training clinic, mentorship programme and competition for U-15 players from across the country. The Chairman of the foundation, Mr Femi Olugbile, disclosed this in Lagos on Thursday.
He said the championship had continued to provide a platform for discovering and developing young table tennis talents in the country.
Olugbile said several players who recently represented Nigeria at the International Table Tennis Federation Africa Youth Championships Cup in Accra, including Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo, began their careers through the championship. He said Kuti had since progressed to become a member of Nigeria’s senior national table tennis team.
According to him, the tournament remains focused on identifying and grooming future stars while encouraging participants to combine sports with education.
Olugbile said the championship was not only about competition but also about player development through a training clinic, which had become a regular feature of the programme.
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“Our focus is on development because identifying players early allows us to give them the skills they need to succeed.
“This year, we are placing special attention on female players because Nigeria’s women’s team has fallen behind other countries in Africa. “The first two days of the programme will be dedicated to intensive training under qualified coaches,” he said.
Olugbile also stressed the importance of combining sports with education. “We want to produce educated champions. The era of abandoning education for sports is over.
“Some of us combined both successfully and that is the example we want these young athletes to follow,” he said.
He added that a mentorship programme would be held alongside the training clinic from Aug. 11 to Aug. 12, with professionals from different fields expected to guide and inspire the young athletes.
The championship proper will run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 15, with U-15 players from across the country expected to compete for honours in the annual grassroots tournament.
NAN
