Winners Emerge In Calabar School Table Tennis Tournament

Etim Orok, plays exhibition game in the final 

Winners have emerged in the 3-day Calabar Primary Secondary School Table Tennis Championship which ended recently at the Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Among the gold medalists in the Primary School Boys Singles category is 9-year old Bright Joel Udoh of Prison Primary School, Barracks Road Calabar. He beat other contestants, Victor Ogar of De-Montis School who won the silver medal and Isaac Joseph and Ndiana Abasi both of PCN Primary School, Akim, who jointly won bronze.

In the Primary School Girls Singles category, Glory Joshua of PCN Akim, won gold, while Precious Uduak of Bishop King Primary School, won silver.  Bassey Bassey of PCN Akim and Temple Ike of Aunty Ekpenyong Primary School jointly won bronze.

Winners of the Secondary School Girls Doubles event are Essien Marylene/Ukpa Bassey of WAPI who won gold; Essien Evelyn/Glory Essien of GSS Atu who won silver; and Igbe Grace/Alfred Glory of GSS Barracks Road jointly won bronze with Udofa Etimbuk/ Jerry Akpan of Access High School.

In the Doubles event category for Boys in the secondary school event, Victor Sunday/ Bassey Asuquo of GSS Barracks Road clinched the gold medal, while Ene Emmanuel/Alobo Evalsam of GSS Atu won silver. The bronze medal was jointly won by the pair of McTony Ray/Ogbaji Caleb of Lourdes Academy and Innocent Gideon/Abdul Peter of FAAN Secondary School.

In the Singles secondary school girls event, Mary Ayee of GSS Lagos Street won gold, while Udoakan Idorenyin of Eastern Secondary Commercial School, clinched silver. The bronze medal was jointly won by Sunday Christiana of Big Qua Senior Secondary School, and Ebak Evelyn of Eastern Secondary Commercial.

Bassey Asuquo of GSS Barracks Road won the gold medal in the singles category of the boys event in the secondary school. His school mate, Victor Sunday, won the silver, while the bronze medal was jointly won by Goodnews Patrick of WAPI and Sifon Abasi of Model Secondary School, Uwanse.

Reacting to his victory, gold medalist, Bright Joel Udoh said he had been playing table tennis since he was five years old and vowed that he will play the game to the highest level such as the Olympics.

He advised other children to be like him by participating in sports and at the same time pursuing their educational career.His coach, Fidelis  Ititim, confirmed to PM EXPRESS that he started coaching Udoh at a tender age, adding that he coached most of the children that emerged victorious at the just concluded championship.

He said Udoh shows great determination and he believes the boy will go places and win many laurels in future.The Cross River State Commissioner for Sustenable Development, Oliver Orok, who graced the closing ceremonies, said he was impressed with the championship and wants the organizers to expand its scope to cover other segments of the society.

One of the highpoints of the event was the opening of accounts by First Royal Micro Finance Bank Ltd, one of the sponsors of the championship, for 32 of the outstanding participants from over 102 schools.The Managing Director of the bank, Mrs Ima Inoko, who made the announcement, said the aim is to encourage parents to save for the children’s school fees and that they could win N150,000 during the bank’s raffle draw.

She said the bank will continue to support sports, which along with education, will take the children to places, adding that everything should not be left for the government alone to do.