President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Ishaku Tikon
President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Ishaku Tikon has commended Aruna Quadri for winning the men’s singles at the just concluded African Table Tennis Championship in Mauritius, saying it showed how determined the champion is to become one of the best players in the world.
Quadri beat Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh 4-1 to win the title he narrowly lost to Saleh’s compatriot, Omar Assar in 2016.
The victory is coming on the heels of his triumph at the ITTF Challenge Seamaster Nigeria Open in Lagos.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Tikon said Quadri’s feat was due to hard work, adding he “has just demonstrated his might on the continent that he is the king. And that has been his targeted for a long time.
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“The victory was earned through hard work, discipline and all of that.
This is what we at the NTTF have been clamouring for, to be the gateway of table tennis in the Africa continent to the world.”
On Nigeria’s performance in the women category at the African championship, Tikon said the ladies also gave a good account of themselves.
“What we had in Mauritius was the infusion of the experienced, who are ageing and the young ones.
There we had the likes of Funke Oshonaike and the rest and then the young ones like Tosin, Esther and Ajala.
“What we are trying to do is to position the young ones to take over from their senior colleagues, so that they can smoothly move into their shoes.
“The older ones have done so greatly and have contributed their quotas to the country.
They have hoisted the country’s flag at different championships, but that notwithstanding, we will try to bring up our women to the level of the men so that we can reclaim our dominance on the continent,” he stated.
Source: G Sport
