African table tennis must invest more in coaching development and expand opportunities for emerging players to compete at the highest level, according to Enitan Oshodi, who believes the continent has the talent to challenge more established nations.
Oshodi expressed satisfaction with the standard of play at the African Table Tennis Championships, particularly the progress made by young players who have graduated from junior competitions into their respective senior national teams, Sports247.ng reports.
Read Also: “When Nigeria Bids, Africa Is Bidding” — Adesoji Tayo Explains How Nigeria Secured 2028 Hosting Rights Ahead of Tunisia | Sports247 Nigeria
He noted that the African Youth Championships held in Ghana had provided an important pathway for promising players, many of whom have now established themselves at senior level.
“What I’m happy to see is that, following on from the African Youth Championships in Ghana, a lot of those young players have managed to make their senior national teams, and the standard of play has been very good,” Oshodi said.
While acknowledging the improvements recorded on the playing side, he insisted that African table tennis still has considerable room for development, especially in officiating and technical education.
“We can always do better. I think on the officiating side, we see the improvements that we’re making from training that we’re giving the officials. The players, the standard is higher. The top players have come to the party here,” he explained.
Oshodi stressed that the next stage of development must focus on making the sport accessible to a wider pool of players while ensuring that coaches receive the training needed to compete with their international counterparts.
“We have the talent in Africa. Now we need to open it up to a wider group, get our coaching in place, coaching for our coaches especially,” he said.
“The players take on the coaching very quickly, but we need more coaches. We need the calibre of our coaches to match those that the rest of the world are using.”
He concluded that although the championships demonstrated encouraging progress in player development and competitive standards, more investment and technical improvements would be required to sustain that momentum.
“So overall, I’m happy, but I could be much happier,” Oshodi added.
