Italy-based Nigerian table tennis coach, Micheal Oyebode, has called for the early release of funds allocated to sports federations to enable them to execute their programmes in talent discovery, grooming and competitions.
Oyebode, who said that such allocation should be released in early in the year, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday from his base that such would give room for adequate preparations.
“In my opinion the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports must change its old system.
“Let the ministry give the federations their allocations at the beginning of the year to embark on their programmes. That is the only way out,’’ he told NAN on telephone.
The coach said that it’s rather unfortunate that the cadet and junior players were missing out in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African Junior Championships in Tunis.
“Nobody should blame the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for this development; I’m so sorry for all the players and the technical crew.
“I spoke with Abayomi Animashaun one of our cadet players and the boy was totally dejected.
“How I wish the ministry could find a way of giving the NTTF funds for the whole year in order to prevent this type of ugly development.
“We don’t need to ask for any approval every time, once the funds for the year are in the federation’s purse, they will execute their programmes effectively,’’ he said.
An apparently disappointed Oyebode said: “No country that wants to do well does this type of thing to its athletes and these are our future stars.
“It’s really sad and I’m so disappointed about the whole thing. It’s now the same old story of no funds we keep hearing’’.
Oyebode asked: “How can we compete with players all over the world if we are missing African tournaments?
The coach said that these setbacks were the reason Nigerian table tennis is where it is.
“That explains why we continue to remain backwards and it’s really frustrating.
“The World Championships are just few weeks away and I hope Quadri Aruna and others will not suffer the same setback.
“Now our junior players will not be part of the next World Junior Championships next year in Italy.
“Already our female senior team will be missing in next year’s World Team Championships in Sweden because of the same paucity of funds,’’ he said.
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