Nigerian group supervisor Segun Toriola has attributed the group's failure to e-book a spot within the knockout phases of the ITTF World Staff Desk Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea to the absence of the group's greatest participant, Quadri Aruna.
Aruna withdrew from the event as a result of sickness he had just a few days earlier than the competitors.
Commenting on Nigeria's efficiency in Busan, Toriola mentioned: “It’s clear that Aruna's absence affected the group's efficiency as his mere presence as a prime participant would have motivated his teammates to do effectively.
“Even earlier than our match in opposition to Japan, the Asian giants' technical group had been fearful as they thought Aruna might pose a giant problem for them. Fortuitously for them, Aruna withdrew they usually had a straightforward passage into the competitors. Aruna is undoubtedly one of the vital revered gamers on this planet for his high quality and for me his presence within the group would have helped his teammates mentally and psychologically to do effectively,” Toriola admitted.
The previous African champion, who was appointed appearing coach of the nationwide group by the Nigeria Desk Tennis Federation (NTTF), mentioned the nation's greatest path to the highest is by exposing younger gamers to prime class competitions, similar to Tunisia and different African nations. have carried out recently.
“We have to begin exposing our younger gamers to competitions of this magnitude in order that they will study from gamers like Aruna and Olajide Omotayo. It will increase their morale after they take part in a contest. Different nations similar to Algeria now have high quality gamers who didn’t make the French group and are actually looking for success of their native nation to make it to the Olympics.
“We should watch out for a lot of these gamers, however we should proceed to assist our younger gamers of their quest to compete favorably with their overseas counterparts,” he added.
