Former National Table Tennis champion, Taofeek Maya said former officials of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) stopped him from touring the world during his active days.
Maya told www.aclsports.com that he had the opportunity of going for foreign tours in 1993 but some individuals ruined his chances.
Maya said that three times Coca-Cola company offered to take him to three countries overseas.
The 57 year old player said, “I won the Coca-Cola Table Tennis championships back to back from 1991-1993. The organisers of the championships were impressed and decided to sponsor me to France, Germany and the United Kingdom in 1993 but some top officials at the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation then made sure I did not travel.
“One of those who thwarted my trips is dead while the remaining are still alive but all the same, I have forgiven them”.
The veteran Table Tennis player told www.aclsports.com how he started his career.
He said tournaments were numerous during the ’80s and ’90s.
He said, “I started playing Table Tennis in 1980 with Elephant Cement of Ogun state and afterwards played for Kano, Imo, FCT, Kaduna, Lagos and Oyo states. I returned to my state of origin, Oyo state in 2014 after my tour round the country.
“During the good old days, we had various tournaments which kept us busy and in a year, the federation organised at least 10 Table tournaments”.
“I played at the 1991 All Africa Games in Cairo winning bronze (single event) and gold (team event), 1995 All Africa Games in Harare winning gold medal in the team event”, he said.
Maya said he plans attending all the locally organised tournaments in the country.
“I am training tireless this year and will definitely attend the tournaments in the country. In fact, the 2020 National Sports Festival is seriously on my mind”, he said.
