Few days to the election into sports federations, table tennis players and coaches believe fresh hands must take charge of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for the game to grow.

From Portugal, Germany to Italy and in Taraba state, players and coaches have started voicing their minds; saying new face must paddle the canoe of the federation.

If the likes of Kunle Jariogbe, Aruna Quadri, Michael Oyebode and Funke Oshonaike have their way, the president’s position in the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) should not and never be occupied by anybody who has no knowledge and nothing to offer to the progress of the game.

Jariogbe, chief coach of Taraba State Table Tennis Association said that the present board of the NTTF has not helped in progressing the game and he is not too happy that under the present board, the game has gone to its lowest ebb.

I was surprised that some people are still eyeing a place in the new board when it was obvious that they had failed in all ramifications.

In Africa, Nigeria used to rule, but now Egypt has indeed gone ahead of us and this was reflected in what happened at the last All Africa Games in Mozambique. How can you be running a board and no major competition has been staged to discover talents. We don’t need somebody that will solely depend on National Sports Commission (NSC),” he said.

He added: “We need somebody that has the capacity to run the federation and ensure that competitions are organize on regular basis. We need somebody who has the wherewithal and that can always knock on the doors of corporate bodies to source for funds.

Globally, government alone does not fund sports, private companies also support and it will be difficult to elect somebody who has nothing doing to offer to paddle the canoe of table tennis in Nigeria.

The likes of Wahid Oshodi, Orok Duke and Ishaku Pikkom have done a lot in their various zones and these are the kinds of people that should run the federation. In the last four years, there has not been any meaningful improvement in the game. So what are they still looking for again?” he said.