TheCable

Olabanji Oladapo, vice president of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), says African champion Aruna Quadri needs a quality coach to excel at this year’s ITTF World Cup.

Oladapo, who was in Agadir, Morocco, when Quadri beat Assar 4-3 in the men’s singles final, said the lack of “world class tutors” is the bane of table tennis development in Nigeria.

“It is known fact that we lack quality coaching in Nigeria as we don’t have the coach that can handle the likes of Aruna Quadri,” he said.

“I watched the final between Quadri and Assar and it was technically balanced. I know that he needs highly technically sound coach to excel at the World championships.

“Nigeria does not have a coach of that calibre and we need to get one if we need more of Quadri to come through our system as we have many Quadris rotting away in our system.

“As it is Aruna Quadri needs a world class to tutor him at the ITTF World Cup because his quality is beyond what any local coach can handle for now and this is why attention must be given seriously to coaching in Nigeria and that is really what is affecting our players.

“They (coaches) don’t have the wherewithal to impart knowledge on our players while there is need to engage a top class coach to cater for the national teams at all levels.”

Oladapo is a board member of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF).

Quadri and Egypt’s Dina Meshref will represent Africa at the ITTF World Cups in Belgium and Canada respectively.