Italy-based players, Ojo Onaolapo and Olajide Omotayo, are confident that the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour tagged Lagos Open provides Nigeria an ample chance to confirm her superiority in the sport.
Onaolapo, who was part of Nigeria team to the last
ITTF Africa Senior Championships would not want to remember the defeats he suffered in the hand of Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin twice in Cairo, while Omotayo would not want the memory of his poor performance in 2014 to haunt him during the 2015 Lagos Open.
Onaolapo, a silver medalist in the men’s doubles event at the Africa Senior Championships said he hopes to use the tournament to settle scores with the Egyptians.
“My target is to win both the U-21 and the men’s singles by God’s grace. I know I have to be focused throughout the tournament because there is nothing impossible in table tennis and in life.”
“I am not seeing the Egyptians as threats to my ambition because I have forgotten my loss in Cairo. But I am in good mood to take on any of them and for me to overcome them, I just have to believe in myself because they are beatable,” he said.
Unlike Onaolapo who has something to show for his efforts in 2014, Omotayo failed to dazzle the Lagos fans after he was bundled out of the tournament early having been considered as the next big thing in Africa table tennis circuit.
“What happened last year has taught me that I must train well and not to rely on my skills alone. But this year, I am ready to put in my best this time around to make my fans, family and the board of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation happy.
My main target is to win the U-21 category and I am also targeting a good showing in the men’s singles event,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment