Olajide Omotayo is one of the few players that grew from being a cadet to become an integral member of the national table tennis team. After spells in Italy and Belgium en route to France, the 26-year-old Lagos-born athlete believes he still has a lot to offer despite being edged out in the first round of Tokyo 2020 Olympics, reports OLALEKAN OKUSAN.
Olajide Omotayo is fast establishing himself as a new face of table tennis after winning the 2019 African Games in Morocco.
The former national junior champion romance with table tennis started at the ever-bursting Somolu area of Lagos State where he represented the community before working his way to the Lagos State team as a cadet.
He was a delight to watch as a cadet and continued his exploits until he was selected as a member of the Nigeria junior national team to the 2008 African Junior Championships in Alexandria, Egypt.
He has grown in strength ever since and he admitted that the experience of Tokyo 2020 has put him in good stead for the future.
“Going to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was a great experience I won’t forget for the rest of my life because it has always been my dream to participate in the Olympics and finally, my dream became a reality,” he explained. “Regardless of my results, I am still proud of myself.
“Olympics is the biggest sporting event on our planet, whereby champions from around the world come together to compete and that makes it unique, also, it comes every four years,” he added.
Fresh from the 2021 African Championships in Cameroon, Omotayo believes his performance was encouraging in spite of the fact that Nigeria played second fiddle to Egypt.
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“I’m happy about my performance but I know I can do better,” he admitted. “I have not been able to compete at tournaments due to the pandemic outbreak and I’m glad we can all compete now.
“In the singles event, I lost against Omar Assar of Egypt at the quarter-final stage which ended 4-3 in his favour.
“But I know I still have a lot to offer in subsequent continental tournaments; as a team we all did our best and I’m proud of everybody.
“The only thing I believe we lack is preparation as a team, and I hope we will have a long-term training camp before any major tournament.
“I give kudos to the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for giving the younger ones the privilege to participate in a senior tournament such as the African Championship. I believe this opportunity will help them improve.”
To improve the fortunes of the sport, Omotayo said: “We need a world class training center well equipped with good coaches and we also need a proper table tennis league and more tournaments in Nigeria as this will enable players to play more matches. Also, we need to invest in our coaches as well as attend more international tournaments.”
The 2012 National Sports Festival gold medalist who recently joined PPC Villeneuve in the French elite league believes he has a lot to offer the team having started well with the team with victory over league champion a few weeks ago.
He said: “My target is to play at my best with the team and also to help my team remain in the super league division. I am also happy that making it this far to the French league is a great achievement.
“I want to win as many matches as possible, because I know it is going to be very difficult as this is my first time playing a top-level league. “
Omotayo who made his Commonwealth Games debut at the 2018 edition in Gold Coast, Australia, is already looking forward to Birmingham 2022.
“My next target after Tokyo is to make it to Paris 2024 as well as win more African titles. All these would surely help me to make it to the top 50 in the world,” he noted.