Hope Udoaka, a gold medalist at the Renewed Hope Table Tennis Invitational Challenge held at the Indoor Sports Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, says she has no coach or accommodation during the tourney.

Udoaka, who represented Cross River, made the revelation in an interview on Thursday in Calabar.

Udoaka, Nigeria’s number one junior table tennis champion, defeated Shukurat Aiyelabegan from Kwara by three sets to one in the final.

She had earlier won two gold medals at the West Africa University Games and a gold medal in the Michael and Felicia Alabi Table Tennis Championship.

Udoaka also defeated Rashidat Ogundele from Delta in the quarter-finals. She defeated Bose Odunsanya of Lagos in the semi-finals. Both players are former and present national team players, respectively, and are players in the senior category.

“Though the competition was tough, my determination and strong will saw me through. The matches were tough; I didn’t have a coach by my side; I was playing and coaching myself, and I was able to defeat a current and a former national team player.

“I dreamt about participating in the Renewed Hope tourney even though I had no support from my state. I arrived in Lagos two days before the competition to acclimatise, but I had no accommodation, so I was sleeping with other states’ contingents.

“I had to invest all the allowance I got from the West Africa University Games, where I represented my school in the Renewed Hope competition. It was not even enough because I had to beg for where to sleep and feed,” she explained.

The player said she was among the first 20 table tennis players slated for the event, “but without accommodation and proper feeding, it was difficult.”

She said it was sad that everyone sees table tennis as an individual sport with sponsorship and support very low.

“But when the glory comes, everybody wants to share in what they did not support,” she stressed. “To do well, upcoming players need support to get good rackets, balls, tables for training and sponsorship to go for competitions. It is the only way they can grow.”

She commended some foreign-based stars, including Offiong Edem and Haruna Qadiri, who came home and encouraged upcoming players with facilities and competitions while appealing to state governments to follow suit.

The Renewed Hope Table Tennis Championship was held at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall on December 23 and was organised by the National Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) and Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC). 

(NAN)