A new set of table tennis stars emerged over the weekend at the just concluded Offiong Edem Table Tennis Championship in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The games featured 83 players from eight states and the Ultra King Sports Academy, Uyo. The teenage table tennis stars from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Abia, and Delta won gold in the championship.

Also on the gold medals list is an athlete from the Ultra King Sports Academy in Uyo after a three-day table tennis championship.

In the U13 boys category, Delta State’s Idoko Ifesinachi won gold while Enare Obasi won in the girls category.

In the Under 15 competition, Elizabeth Emelike from Abia State won the girls competition while Anambra State’s Ezeafor Gabriel won the boys competition.

Similarly, Chineye Okafor from Abia State won the youth girls competition while Aniekan Bassey from the Ultra King Academy, Uyo, won the boys competition.
Eighteen other athletes won silver and bronze medals in the six categories of games during the tournament.

Offiong Edem, the Chief Executive Officer of the Offiong Edem Foundation, sponsors of the event, presented cash prizes and equipment worth over N2.5 million to the winners and other participants.

The five-time Olympian, who is currently a table tennis coach in the United States, said she chose to organise the tournament annually to discover more talent for Nigeria.

Usen Umoh, the Vice Chairman of the Cross River Table Tennis Federation, said the only way to take many young people off the street was by providing sports facilities.

Speaking with The Guardian in Calabar shortly after the championship, one of the talent scouts, who identified himself as Segun Ajogbeje, said he was in Calabar for the championship to discover new table tennis talents whom he could groom to stardom.