Calabar School Table Tennis Championship Begins

The Calabar Primary/Secondary School Table Tennis Championship has kicked off in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

During the three-day event which started Wednesday, 102 schools are expected to take part in the championship taking place at Hope Waddell Training Institution.

On the opening day, national champion and gold medalist inthe 2014 National School Sports Festival, Etim Orok and Charles Edet played a thrilling exhibition game. Several preliminary games were also decided and some male and female contestants lost out on the opening day, while others progressed to the next stage.

The Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission, Mr.Orok Duke, announced that cash prizes will be given to eventual winners in the various categories, adding that certificates will be awarded to every participating school.

He said women in Cross River have been dominating Table Tennis in the country for the past 18 years, with the current national female champion being  Offiong Edem.

According to him, the state government is determined to sustain this enviable record through the discovery of budding talents, adding that next year all schools across the state will participate in the championship.

Duke said the state is planning to host the South-South school tennis championship and the Ben Ayade Football Tournament across secondary schools in the state in March this year.

He also announced that the state government has thrown open the gates of UJ Esuene Stadium to all primary and secondary schools around the stadium vicinity to enable them engage in sporting activities such as inter house sports competition.

Zenith Bank, Calabar Branch Manager, Nnamdi Uzoewulu, one of the sponsors of the ongoing championship, said the bank’s involvement in the sponsorship was borne out of the desire to give back to the society as part of its corporate social responsibility.

“Zenith Bank has sponsored many sporting events in the past. We will continue to support sports,” he said.

Also speaking, Umoh Usen, the General Manager of Royal International Farms and Estates Limited, another major sponsor of the championship, said: “We want to make tennis popular. We are beginning the revival of Table Tennis at the grassroots level and this will involve all the 11 wards in Calabar.”