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Tag: Olalekan Okusan

  •  Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

     Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

    The rapturous applause that attended his exit from the Table Tennis event of the Rio Olympics could have been mistaken for a victorious ovation.  Nigeria’s legendary table tennis icon Segun Toriola exited the Rio Games but held his head high the way only legends do.

    His conqueror, Japan’s Niwa Koki who beat Segun in the men’s singles event of table tennis joined in acknowledging the iconic star who raised his hands to return the sporadic applause.

    Not long after his defeat,  Toriola who made history by joining the elite stars’ club of players to have attended 7 Olympics turned out to be the beautiful bride who is sought after by many countries to sign as their coach.

    ‘’Countries are queuing to see who will out-bid each other to land Toriola as coach’’, a very dependable source said here.

    Interestingly, too, Nigeria is also desirous of landing the history maker as their coach.

    President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation,  Enitan Oshodi said they’ve always been interested and would want to concretise the deal noting however that Toriola was still much fit to continue with his club functions. ‘’He’ll be an asset and has always been to our younger athletes. We’ll see how to make it even if it means living abroad and coaching from there as it were.

    The young man deserves all the accolades he gets. That is the result of discipline and hardwork. And honestly,  they are the things lacking in our youth players. They are in a hurry to ride expensive cars without working for it’’, Oshodi bemoaned.

    Just as the International Table Tennis Federation plan to honour his historic 7th Olympic appearance, there are feelers that officials of Team Nigeria are also planning to roll out the red carpet to this eminent Nigerian Ping Ponger.

  • Olympics: Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

    Olympics: Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

    The rapturous applause that attended his exit from the Table Tennis event of the Rio Olympics could have been mistaken for a victorious ovation. Nigeria’s legendary table tennis icon Segun Toriola exited the Rio Games but held his head high the way only legends do.

    His conqueror, Japan’s Niwa Koki, who beat Segun in the men’s singles event of table tennis joined in acknowledging the iconic star who raised his hands to return the sporadic applause.

    Not long after his defeat, Toriola who made history by joining the elite stars’ club of players to have attended the 7 Olympics turned out to be the beautiful bride who is sought after by many countries to sign as their coach.

    ‘’Countries are queuing to see who will out-bid each other to land Toriola as coach’’, a very dependable source said here.

    Interestingly, too, Nigeria is also desirous of landing the history maker as their coach.

    President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Enitan Oshodi said they’ve always been interested and would want to complete the deal, noting however that Toriola was still much fit to continue with his club functions. “He’ll be an asset and has always been to our young athletes. We’ll see how to make it even if it means living abroad and coaching from there as it were.

    “The young man deserves all the accolades he gets. That is the result of discipline and hard work. And honestly,  they are the things lacking in our youth players. They are in a hurry to ride expensive cars without working for it,” Oshodi bemoaned.

    Just as the International Table Tennis Federation plan to honour his historic 7th Olympic appearance, there are feelers that officials of Team Nigeria are also planning to roll out the red carpet to this eminent Nigerian Ping Ponger.

  • Olympics: My confidence is growing – Quadri

    Olympics: My confidence is growing – Quadri

    After his superlative performance in the third round of the men’s singles of the table tennis event at Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Aruna Quadri has admitted that the win against Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan has grown his confidence in playing the next match.

    Quadri, who earlier this year was beating black and blue by the Asian star at the German Open said he is focused on his next encounter against Germany’s Timo Boll.

    “I am growing in confidence because the last time I played Chuang Chih-Yuan was earlier this year on the ITTF World Tour in Germany, I lost in four straight games, my goal today was to improve on that performance and fight to win one game!”

    “After I won the first game I became more confident. It is so hard playing Chuang Chih-Yuan, he is so consistent, he keeps putting the ball on the table, you must try to be positive against him and put him under pressure. Also, he was clever with his services, he changes short and long. In the first game I made mistakes returning service. Today he was below his best, he did not play well,” Quadri added.

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  • Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Motivated by the inspiration of legend Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri yesterday defied all odds to demystify one of the tournament’s favourites, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan with a 4-0 bashing to berth in the fourth round of the men’s singles of the table tennis event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    For making it to the fourth round (last 16), Quadri has equaled the feat achieved by Toriola at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China where the former African champion made it to the same stage of the championship.

    The Nigerian who is ranked 40th in the world and 27 at the Rio Olympic Games tamed the world’s number seven and tournament’s number five seed to make a giant stride in his career.

    If what happened at the 2016 German Open is anything to go by, Quadri has no chance against the Asian star as the 2014 ITTF Star Player was bundled out in less than 15minutes.

    Fired up by the loud ovation that greeted Segun Toriola’s exit in the second round of the men’s singles, Quadri was in excellent form with an emphatic routing of his highly-rated opponent.

    The defeat suffered by the Asian star was that disgraceful that he could not win a game in the 4-0 ((11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7) bashing.

    Notably, four year ago at London 2012, Quadri’s victim – Chuang Chih-Yuan had reached the bronze medal match, where he was beaten by Germany’s Dmitrij Ovtcharov.

    Like Quadri, another star of the night was Ukraine’s Kou Lei who attracted the attention by upsetting top seed.

    Kou Lei, the no.28 seed, ended the hopes of Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the no. 13 seed (11-6, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-6).

    In the fourth round match, Quadri will be faced with another task as he is expected to battle against Germany’s Timo Boll, ranked 13 in the world and tournament’s number 10 seed.

  • Toriola gets ITTF recognition for Olympics feat

    Toriola gets ITTF recognition for Olympics feat

    Just like the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the sole custodian of table tennis globally, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has recognised the feat set by one of Africa’s most decorated athletes, Segun Toriola as the world table tennis ruling body identified with the record to be set by the former African champion at Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

    In the media guide released by ITTF, Toriola’s feat was listed on page 15 stating, “Nigeria’s Segun Toriola will be playing his seventh Olympic Games in Rio, which is the most of any African athlete from any Olympic sport.”

    “Sweden’s Jorgen Persson, Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive have played in 7 Olympic Games, most of any table tennis player. Nigeria’s Segun Toriola will join them, as he plays his 7th Olympic in Rio,” it stated.

    The best African performer at the Olympic Games is Segun Toriola whose outing at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China became the reference globally. Toriola’s biggest achievement at the Olympic Games has been reaching the Men’s Singles 1/16 final at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, beating amongst others former world number 1 Jean-Michel Saive as well as David Zhuang. His 1/32 match-up with Jean-Michel Saive was seen by many as one of the highlights of the Men’s Singles Tournament. He narrowly lost 4-3 to heavily favoured Oh Sang-Eun in the 1/16 final.

    From record of table tennis at the Olympic Games, no African player or team has won medal but Nigeria is among the 15 countries that have featured in the table tennis event of the Olympic Games since 1988 when table tennis became a medal hauling event at the Olympic Games. Others are Sweden,Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea Republic, Poland and the United States.

    Among the six countries that have always have both male and female representation in the table tennis event of the Olympic Games, Nigeria made the list while others are Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea Republic and the United States..

  • Ahead of Rio 2016 Olympic Games: Quadri is Africa’s best in Rio

    Despite sliding to 40 in the August 2016 ITTF ranking, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri remains Africa’s best ranked player in the world at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    With all eyes on the table tennis event, Quadri may be starting his campaign in the singles event from the second round as the 2014 ITTF Star Player will be ranked among the top 32 at the Rio Olympic Games.

    However, Quadri and Segun Toriola campaigns in Brazil got a boost yesterday as Frot Group has again put words to action by supporting the players in their quest for glory at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    The chairman of Frot Group, Frank Momoh has been supporting sports in Nigeria while he extended the gesture to the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) during the 2016 ITTF World Tour tagged Nigeria Open.

    For the president of NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, the gesture would motivate the players in their quest to make the country proud in Brazil.

    “This support for Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri will greatly encourage and assist our top players in their quest to put up a good performance in the Olympics and other upcoming tournaments. It will help in reducing the financial strain incurred by the players in traveling and buying equipment. Playing at world level carries a lot of expenses and the support from Frot Group will go a long way in assuaging the financial burden on the players. We are very grateful to the Chairman Of Frot Group, Mr. Frank Momoh for making this possible.”
  • Rio: Criticisms trail Mikel’s appointment as Nigeria captain

    Rio: Criticisms trail Mikel’s appointment as Nigeria captain

  • Olympics: Table tennis team won’t disappoint Nigerians – Abiodun

    Olympics: Table tennis team won’t disappoint Nigerians – Abiodun

  • We’ll only celebrate excellent athletes – NSA

    • Nominations for award begin

    The chairman of the Nigerian Sports Award (NSA), Ikedi Isiguzo has said that the award is meant for athletes that have distinguished themselves throughout the year, as the nominations for the 2016 edition began yesterday across the country.

    Speaking at the press briefing to unfold pans for this year’s award, Isiguzo reaffirmed the commitment of the organisers to the award, while insisting that award would only be given to athletes that distinguished themselves for the country.

    “Our focus is to honour athletes, coaches and administrators as well as media men who have shown exceptional traits in their chosen field. Even among the 19 categories, if we cannot get any exceptional athlete, we will not be given out the award. We want to continue to raise the standard of the award because we realized that we cannot lower the standard we have set. This year, we want to improve on what we have been doing and hope that corporate bodies will come on board and support our athletes and reward them for their efforts,” he added.

    According to the Executive Director, Unmissable Incentives Limited, Mr. Kayode Idowu, the 2016 edition of the Award promises to be very exciting with a series of activities line up to commemorate the fifth edition of the award. ‘’We are very excited and planning to ensure that the 5th Edition of the Nigerian Sports Award, which is an anniversary edition is better than the past four editions not only about the award night event, but also in all aspects of the awards from nominations, participation and attendance by the nominees,’’ Idowu said.
    The nominations for the 19 categories began on Monday on the website and end on September 23 while the grand finale holds on December 2 at Eko Hotel in Lagos.
  • I’ll shock the world at Rio, says Ogunlewe         

    I’ll shock the world at Rio, says Ogunlewe         

    In two years, Seye Ogunlewe has become one of Nigeria’s top athletes. He underlined his rise to stardom by becoming the fastest man in Nigeria. It was just last year that the former Atlantic Hall School student announced his presence in Nigeria’s athletics scene after winning men’s 100 metres at the national trials in Warri, Delta State for the trials of 2015 World Athletics Championship. Two weeks ago, he repeated the same feat at Sapele Township Stadium and he was crowned the best male sprinter in the country for the second consecutive year. The performance also earned Ogunlewe a place in the 35-man list for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil where he would make his debut. The United Kingdom (UK)-based athlete, who believes the Olympics will be his launching pad to stardom, told OLALEKAN OKUSAN that his emergence as Nigeria’s best sprinter is a result of years of hardwork.

    Seye Ogunlewe’s background did not suggest that he would embrace sports to such a level that he would one day rule the national scene. He was born with a silver spoon and for people in this category, sports is seen as recreation- something they do to for fun or turn to when they are bored with their computers at home. This group of kids are also expected to face their studies squarely so that they take over from their fathers who are top politicians, blue-chip executives and top government functionaries, after graduating with first-class in some of the top universities either in Nigeria or abroad.

    However, despite the huge expectation from the young Ogunlewe, he was not discouraged to embrace sports, making sure he effectively combined sports and education to the admiration of his father, Seye Ogunlewe (snr.), a former Minister of Works. Ogunlewe’s first love was football but it was at Atlantic Hall that one of his teachers identified his potential in athletics and this was how he started his athletics career.

    Narrating his foray into sports, Ogunlewe said: “I actually started with football, but I noticed that I was quick on the ball and with the advice of one of my teachers, I started doing athletics while I was at Atlantic Hall. We did a few trials where I did fairly well and I started racing for my house in junior class one. I must also acknowledge the support of one of my teachers, Mr. Nwigwe, who identified that I had the potential to do well in athletics. Also I must recognise the huge role played by the school head of sports, Mrs. Akande (nee Oketade) who played a major role in my taking to athletics,” he said.

    His performance even as a junior student caught the attention of Akande, who listed Ogunlewe in the school relay teams and he shone like a star in the various meets he attended. After his secondary education, Ogunlewe moved to United Kingdom (UK) to further his education where he continued his career in athletics. Despite burning the track in his new environment, he never neglected his education as he was admitted at the University of Essex to study Law and Politics.

    Few days before his graduation, Ogunlewe was in Sapele to compete for a place at Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. He topped in the final to win his second consecutive national title in the 100 metres, having claimed the title in 2015 enroute the 2015 World Athletics Championship in Russia.

    The 25 year-old who was rewarded with a place in the 35-man track and field list for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil expressed confidence in his ability to become one of the top athletes in the world in the near future.  “I am done with school so I will no longer have to combine the two (studies and sports). It was tough for me combining both, but with discipline and hardwork, it worked for me. I actually did a joint degree in Law and Politics because I have to start thinking of life after sports. I wanted to have something to fall back on once I am done with my career in sports,” he noted.

    From running 10.80 seconds in 100metres in 2010, Ogunlewe has continued to improve every year and now has 10:12secs as his personal best, a time he also hope to improve on in future. Despite tempting offer from other countries, Ogunlewe is still in love with the green and white colours of Nigeria. “All I want is to excel and continue to do the country proud. I live and train in the UK and that does not mean I want to compete for Great Britain. I am a Nigerian so I want to represent my country and not any other.

    Ogunlewe cannot also underestimate the enormous support he has been getting from his family. He told a local website recently that, “I am lucky that I have a family that supports me and helps me to get to where I want to be. It is a good thing when your loved ones support you in whatever profession you choose. It gives you assurance that nothing can go wrong. I get all support from my family because without them I would not be where I am right now, so all thanks go to them.”

    According to Ogunlewe, his qualification for the Rio Olympic Games is a dream come true. “It feels great to make the team to Rio and this has always been my dream to dominate the athletics scene in Nigeria. I am grateful to God for this opportunity. It is every athlete’s dream to go to the Olympic Games so words cannot express how I feel at the moment on my qualification. I must admit that it was not easy qualifying and who says it was easy? It is never easy because we have top quality sprinters in Nigeria and it is always difficult to win the 100 metres and so I must admit that it was not easy at all,”

    Despite his admiration for Olympic and World Champion, Usain Bolt, who he considers his role model, Ogunlewe believes he would not be admiring the Jamaican when they are on track in Rio. “My role mode is Usain Bolt because he is the best and he doesn’t take it too seriously and this reminds me of myself as I am always calm. Like me, Bolt is also a Man United supporter, but when we get to Rio, I would not be admiring him on track as everybody will be aiming for the ultimate medal. My target is to go as far as possible in the 100 metres and of course that is why I train hard each day to compete with the best athletes in the world. For now, this is not where I want to be, but by August 12 I should be there.

    To reaffirm his commitment to the Nigeria project, Ogunlewe said: “As long as I am running, I will represent Nigeria at the highest level, but only God knows the future not man,” he said.

    As an undergraduate at University of Essex, Ogunlewe dominated the sprint event as he was crowned the British indoor University champion in 2013 and this fetched him accolades from the management of the school.

    On whether his father’s status as former Minister of Works paved the way for him, Ogunlewe said: “I think I want to be on my own. My father has nothing to do with me taking to athletics. It is my decision and the only thing he has been doing for me is to support my dream. I never used his influence to get anything as an athlete; I only rely on my ability to pave the way for me.”

    Despite his passion for athletics, Ogunlewe said gaining admission to University of Essex had nothing to do with his sporting prowess as he had to pass his Advanced Level (A ‘Level) examination to gain admission into the institution.

    His foray into athletics has given him the opportunity to rub shoulders with the world’s best and also meet with the crème-de-la-crème in the society. “I can say that athletics still has a lot to offer me because I am still aiming high, but at the main time, I have been able to meet the best athletes in the world as well as hobnob with influential people, which for me is a big plus as an athlete,” he said.

    Unlike in the UK, where athletes get support and sponsorship from corporate bodies and individuals, Ogunlewe is piqued that the same does not happen in Nigeria. “If I am a Briton I am sure by now, I would have gotten sponsors running after me, but in Nigeria this is not happening. Athletes have to rely on family and friends to sustain themselves. This is not too good for athletics and I hope this sad development will change with time. I am hoping that we will start getting support in the near future as this would help us rule the world.”

    He also gave an insight into his future on the tracks by revealing that he hopes to combine 200metre and 100metre later this year. He added that he hopes to improve his timing before the Olympic Games. “I wouldn’t say that the timing I had during the national trial was not right for me this year, but I hope to do more 200m later this season. I am not where I am hoping to be, but I will keep working hard and praying.”

    On his expectation from Team Nigeria at Rio, he added: “I cannot speak for anyone in Team Nigeria as I do not know what everyone is doing regarding preparation. I can only speak for myself, but I am sure everyone travelling to Rio would do their best.”