The seventh Adegboyega Efunkoya National Cadet Table Tennis Championship will take place from August 11 to 15 at the National Stadium Indoor Hall in Surulere, with the development of Nigeria’s female players a central priority.
Quick facts
- Dates: August 11-15
- Venue: National Stadium Indoor Hall, Surulere
- Opening programme: Training clinic on August 11-12
- Competition: U-15 players from across Nigeria
- Organisers: Efunkoya Sports Foundation and the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation
The annual event is organised by the Efunkoya Sports Foundation in collaboration with the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation. It has established itself as an important route into the sport for young players.
Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo are among athletes who featured for Nigeria at the recent ITTF Africa Youth Championships and Cup in Accra after emerging through the tournament. Kuti has gone on to earn a regular place in Nigeria’s senior national team.
Foundation chairman Femi Olugbile said the opening two days, August 11 and 12, would be used for a coaching clinic led by qualified instructors. The programme will give particular attention to the women’s side of the game.
Olugbile said the championship is designed to find promising players early and give them the technical foundation required to progress. He added that the women’s team needs renewed investment after slipping behind other African countries, making female participation a key focus this year.
The chairman also called for young athletes to pursue education alongside table tennis. He said the foundation aims to develop champions who are academically equipped, arguing that the days of sacrificing schooling for sport should be over.
He pointed to those who successfully managed both commitments as examples for the next generation to follow. A separate mentorship scheme will also operate during the August 11-12 clinic, bringing in professionals from fields beyond sport.
That initiative is intended to reinforce the foundation’s wider goal of combining athletic progress with learning and personal development. Olugbile said educated champions, rather than athletes forced to choose between school and competition, are the desired outcome.
The tournament’s competitive phase begins on August 13 and concludes on August 15. Players aged under 15 from across Nigeria are expected to contest the event.
