•Who inherits the crown of Nigeria’s Table Tennis Queen?
The surprise victory of the ageless Olufunke Oshonaike-Irabor, who won the Women’s Singles title at the recently-concluded International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships in Morocco, is a paradoxical testimony to both her staying power and the consistent failure of Nigeria to develop sustainable succession plans in its sports.
At 41, Oshonaike-Irabor has enjoyed an eventful career that has witnessed the highs and lows that are peculiar to any athlete that has ever represented Nigeria. A six-time Olympian, multiple gold medallist at several All-Africa Games, and Germany-based professional, she has also suffered from the many administrative lapses that often prevent the country’s sportsmen and women from performing at optimum levels.
Indeed at the ITTF tournament, the outspoken table tennis queen had cause to publicly denounce the incompetence of the Federal Ministry of Sports for its inability to underwrite the expenses of the female team which was walked over as a result of its absence. All of Nigeria’s players who made it to the Morocco tournament paid their own way.
Oshonaike-Irabor is the epitome of the elite Nigerian athlete: hugely talented, grimly determined, and possessed of an inner strength which makes her capable of dragging victory out of the jaws of certain defeat. Her victory over a much younger defending champion in a sport where youth is a major advantage is a testimony to that fact.
In a country where age-cheating remains worryingly persistent, she has proven that, with discipline and commitment, it is possible to perform consistently at the highest levels of any sporting endeavour, in spite of advancing age. In this regard, she is a commendable counterpart of the great Segun Toriola, who has become the only African to appear at seven Olympic Games.
However, it is obvious that Oshonaike-Irabor will not be on the sporting stage forever, and must ultimately make way for others. The trouble is that Nigeria does not appear to have properly undertaken the search for her successors. Players like Bose Kaffo, Cecilia Otu-Akpan and Offiong Edem are all in the twilight of their careers, making the looming succession crisis in female table tennis all the more pressing.
In contrast to Nigeria, countries like Egypt and Congo Brazzaville have invested heavily in the future of their youth, with regular international competitions, top-level coaching and comprehensive preparations ahead of tournaments.
If the balance of power in African table tennis is not to shift to Nigeria’s disadvantage, steps will have to be taken to ensure that it produces more Oshonaike-Irabors. Fortunately, the country is blessed with competent table tennis federation that appears to understand the importance of the issues.
Perhaps the most important challenge facing Nigerian table tennis is that of sponsorship. Unlike football, table tennis is not a regular beneficiary of government sponsorship, despite its uncontested popularity. In confronting this problem, increased attempts should be made to leverage the ubiquity of the game in order to attract corporate and individual sponsorship. The disappearance of table tennis venues in cities like Lagos must be reversed, and popular local championships like the Asoju-Oba tournament should be enhanced, both in terms of number and prestige.
Veterans like Oshonaike-Irabor, Toriola, Kaffo, Otu-Akpan and Edem who have brought honour to the game should be given the recognition that is their due; football players should not be the only recipients of national awards, nor should they be the only athletes after whom streets are named.
Greater attention should be paid to improving the quality of coaching; innate talent is insufficient for success at the highest level. Top players should be encouraged to go into coaching, and regularly sent on courses to improve their knowledge of the game.
The greatest honour that can be paid to patriotic athletes like Oshonaike-Irabor is to ensure that they will have successors who are worthy of them.