The sporting news of the last weekend (never mind the resumption of the Premier League in the UK) is that for the first time in the six-year history of the ITTF Nigeria Open Table Tennis Championships, a Nigerian – Aruna Quadri – has emerged as the winner of the prized Men’s Singles title.
The competition featured players from twenty-seven nations – the largest diversity of international players ever hosted by Nigeria.
Table tennis is a sport that is played by millions all over the world. It could actually stake a claim to be the most-played sport for recreation. Everybody somewhere somehow gets to play table tennis at some time. The player could be Barack Obama whose weapon is a mean left-handed service, or David Cameron. Or Christian Ronaldo. Or busy executives, exchanging furious strokes on the table at Ikoyi Club.
To watch the celebration of the crowd in the hall, who included the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the observer would be forgiven for thinking an earth-shaking event has just taken place.
In a corner of the spectator stand hung a banner proclaiming ‘Aruna Fans Club’. They came with a talking drum. Every so often the drummer played a line, and the crowd picked up the refrain.
Aruna Quadri is ranked number 18 in the world – the highest ranking of any Nigerian player ever.
Many table tennis romantics would remember the days of Atanda Musa (‘Mansa Musa’), who was a superstar, and something of a cult-figure in Lagos sporting circles. His alter ego was Yomi Bankole, aka ‘Ofege’ – a highly skilled player with the build and mannerisms of a pugilist. The epic battles between Musa and Bankole played out to standing room only crowds at the old Rowe Park and other venues, with supporters exchanging war songs and sometimes blows. Almost always the game turned on a knife’s edge and kept spectators holding their breath until the very last stroke.
But the roots of organized table tennis in Nigeria go back much farther.
As far back as the 1940s and 1950s, there were table tennis playing ‘Boys and Girls” clubs at Alakoro, Okoawo, Ijero, Olowogbowo, Obalende, Isalegangan, Lafiaji and Faji. On twenty-first November 1949, The Lagos and District Table Tennis Association was formed. It began a league competition among clubs. The Mayor of Lagos, Mr. Olorunnimbe, donated a trophy for the club competition.
And in 1951, the Nigeria Table Tennis Association was formed, headed by an Englishman – Jack Farnsworth. The first ‘national’ competition was held in the same year, and the champion was Alaba Vaughan.
Table tennis was a popular participation sport all over the island and mainland of Lagos. Tables of various descriptions – not always ‘standard’, existed in most neighborhoods. The little children were not left out of the fun. Small wooden contraptions of various descriptions – they called them ‘Ti e da?’ – literally meaning ‘Where is your own’? – were all over – at the roadside, under the bridge, straddling a stagnant gutter. Club tournaments were avidly followed by large crowds, with songs being composed about famous victories of people such as Solomon Bamgbade, ‘Fireman’ “Ali and Olu Ayalanja.
In 1953, the chairman of the NTTA donated a trophy for a knock-out competition among Secondary Schools in Nigeria. The first edition was won by Eko Boys High School.
The disappearance of table tennis boards and the recreational culture from the streets and neighborhoods of Nigerian cities, especially Lagos, has gone in tandem with a ‘hardening’ of the soul of the Nigerian city. ‘Development’ over half a century has almost extinguished the sense of neighborliness. Recreational spaces have disappeared in many places, taken over by school buildings, commercial structures and places of worship.
Five years ago, Lagos State organized an international conference tagged ‘The Lagos Livable City Conference’ to assess the livability of the emerging megacity and take ideas on how to make living in the city a wholesome experience for its people. Evidence emerged that Lagos – the only Nigerian city internationally ranked for ‘livability’, was near the bottom of the international list. Not to worry. Specific actions, it was concluded, would need to be taken to make the city more ‘livable’. Among these was a return of recreational spaces and neighborhood sports in every locality.
It has been exciting following the ebb and flow of world table tennis over a space of many years. Watching Jan Over Waldner – who is to table tennis what Roger Federer is to the other tennis – the consummate master artist. Watching Segun Toriola explode on the world scene, to the initial alarm of the Swedes and Belgians. Watching other talents emerge and then waste away, because they lacked the discipline of life, such as the great ‘Ofege’, or because, they lacked the work culture and technical support required to stay at the top of an international sport.
There is a frantic struggle among nations to reach the pinnacle. The Chinese seem to have a stranglehold for now. It hasn’t always been like this. The Japanese used to wipe them on the table. Then the Swedes – Jan Over Waldner and his generation, used to wipe them on the floor. But they dug deep and honed their natural talent. When they took over championship of the male and female game, the Europeans snorted and said the sport would soon die for lack of spectatorship and sponsorship. Who wanted to watch ‘nameless’ Chinese play? And since they had no money how wouldthey make the sport pay?
They have been proved wrong. Chinese are producing new talent on an industrial scale. More and more people are watching table tennis. And – oh – the Chinese now have money. There are more billionaires in China than the whole of Europe. And their stars are getting rich and living the super-star life. At a recent Championship in Qatar, rich Chinese fans -numbering in the hundreds, chartered whole aircraft to travel to Qatar and book in five-star hotels tocheer their superstar Fan Zhendong to victory.
The message is simple. For the greater ‘livability’ of Lagos and other Nigerian cities, as well as the need to channel the energy of youth and develop their talents, and also for the need still to hold on to that fond dream that pioneers like Jack Farnsworth and Dr Adegboyega Efunkoya had – that Nigeria has the depth and the talent to face the Chinese down and rule the world someday, everyone would do well to take note of the table and the little ball and the world of possibilities the game of table tennis portends for Nigeria.
Femi Olugbile
