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Tag: Oshonaike

  • NTTF names Toriola, Oshonaike, seven others for 2015 African Games

    NTTF names Toriola, Oshonaike, seven others for 2015 African Games

    Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike will be making their seventh appearance at the 2015 African Games after the former champions were named alongside other seven others by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for the multi-sports championship in Congo Brazzaville.

    As the most respected table tennis stars, Toriola and Oshonaike will lead Nigeria’s nine-man team to the Games. Toriola and Oshonaike made their debut at Cairo 1991 in Egypt.

    The nine-man team was selected based on their ranking coupled with series of trails organised in Lagos in the last three weeks.

    Toriola is the most successful player in the history of African Games having won the men’s singles title four consecutive times in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007.

    Like Toriola, Oshonaike is also the most successful female player in the history of the games having claimed the women’s singles title twice in 1999 and 2003 while she was runner’s up in 1991 and 2011 will be making her seventh appearance at the multi-sports championships.

    Toriola, a six-time Olympian will be joined in the men’s team by 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri, Bode Abiodun, Seun Ajetunmobi and Ojo Onaolapo.

    Besides Quadri and Ajetunmobi who had featured at the previous African Games, Abiodun and Onaolapo will be making their debut at the games

    Oshonaike will spearhead the female team which include African Games women’s singles defending champion, Edem Offiong, Cecilia Otu-Akpan and Rasheedat Ogundele.

    Also, Offiong and Otu-Akpan will be making their fourth appearance at the games having debuted at Abuja 2003 in Nigeria. The duo is also the women’s doubles defending champions having retained the title they won in Algiers 2007 at the 2011 edition in Mozambique.

    Ogundele, who is only debutant in the female team, returned to the national team having had a stint with the team to various continental and international tournaments.

  • Why I sponsored myself to China – Oshonaike

    Why I sponsored myself to China – Oshonaike

    As long as Funke Oshonaike is not happy that some of her teammates in the national team could not make it to the ongoing ITTF World Championships in China, it was her passion and dedication to the sport that prompted her to sponsor herself to the tournament.

      Despite the jet-lag, Oshonaike began her campaign in the group stage on a winning note after beating Costa Rica’s Cynthia Martinez 4-0 in the women’s singles.

    She, however, expressed her displeasure over the inability of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to support the team to China, which she said would affect the fortune of the absentee players in Africa.

    “Like you all know, my love for the sport goes beyond money and my dedication to the game made me to decide to sponsor myself to the competition even though I had to pay double for the flight ticket. It is not too good that Nigeria will not be playing in this kind of tournament, which will help the players to improve their ranking as well as shape up for major tournaments this year,” she admitted.

    “Also I love to take part in any competition staged in Asia because you know you are going to meet the best and the atmosphere is always awesome. As I will be celebrating my birthday on April 28, I am used to marking it outside my home and again this will repeat itself. But generally, it was my love and commitment to table tennis that promoted me to bankroll this trip to China,” she added.

    Oshonaike, who is yet to make it to the main draw of the tournament believes if she could discover her form, this first game win would surely boost her chance of making it to the main draw this year. “I am so tired from the trip because I arrived an hour to the first game and fortunately for me, my opponent was not that good and this made me to win. I hope I will do better again in the second group match to be able to move closer to playing in the main draw,” the former African champion said.

  • LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS CLASSICS Toriola, Oshonaike: Focus is on younger players

    LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS CLASSICS Toriola, Oshonaike: Focus is on younger players

    Olympian and Nigeria’s topmost table tennis player, Segun Toriola has said that the forth- coming Lagos International Table Tennis Classics is not about established players like himself but the discovery of younger talents that will represent Nigeria in future engagements.

    In a chat with SportingLife at the media conference to herald the competition held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Toriola, who has six Olympic Games appearances to his credit, said he has achieved all that there is and feels it is time to allow the younger players emerge.

    “It is not about me playing to win the competition; I am looking forward to the younger players exhibiting their potential and showing that they are ready to take over.

    “Good players abound in the country and it can only take competitions of this magnitude to discover them. I am so excited that after a long time this kind of event is taking place in Nigeria. I don’t have anything to lose, just here to enjoy myself,” he declared.

    But for Aruna Quadri, the story is not the same as the Portugal-based player intends to clinch the men’s singles’ crown.

    “Segun may sound that way because he has achieved virtually everything in the game. I am an up-coming player, so I will put in everything to make sure I win.

    “We were told about four months ago about the competition and we have been training hard. I am very positive and don’t intend to underrate any player.

    “I have met the Egyptian player twice in a major competition, I defeated him once and he has also defeated me once, so it will be an avenue to settle scores. It will be tough,” he declared.

    Another top player in the female category, Offiong Edem is also optimistic.

    Asked if the presence of compatriot, Funke Oshinaike is a threat to her ambition, she simply said. “Every player coming for the event is human and everyone is beatable. But for Funke, she is not my rival at all and can’t be a threat.”

    On her part Oshinaike said she was here to win, and promised to mentor the local athletes to become great.

    “My target, everybody wants to win but if I don’t win I just want to be able to inspire the young ones, say something to them, because they are the future of tomorrow.

    “You know I don’t have so much time anymore. I still hope that someone better than me is going to come up and that is my dream.”

    The competition runs from August 26 to 31, while qualifiers for Nigeria-based players will hold on August 22 to 23.