by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

He was welcomed by Andrew Mudibo, the President of the Kenya Table Tennis Association and received high praise from those who were under his tutelage.

Members of the training camp spoke to Olalekan Okusan, the Press Officer for the African Table Tennis Federation.

“I thank the Kenya Table Tennis Association for bringing Toriola during the December holidays. I have had the experience of learning from him in training and not in international tournaments, where he always defeats us very quickly. I have learned a great deal from the information he has passed to us and soon you will see changes in my game”, Peter Theuri (Kenya no.1 ranked male player)

“The few days I have been coached by Toriola has brought changes to my game. It is nice to see him concentrate on the junior players who attended the coaching clinic. I can assure you his one of the best coaches I have worked with; I hope he will become a coach when he stops playing”, (Kenya no.1 ranked female player)

“My dream has come true, I only saw him once on television and he knows how to return the ball like it is stuck on the bat. I will be a world champion with his training.” Anne Marrie (10 years old)

“Working with Toriola has been quite good. The experience he has is really important for all of us and I have learned a lot from him. I am going to put all that he has passed unto us into practice. I have learned about time management from him especially the rest period that a player requires in between training sessions and also after a match”, Anthony Mathenge (Kenyan international, now coach)

“This is the first time I have worked with an international player of high ranking. I have learned a lot from him on techniques and drills to follow for our players. He has definitely brought change to the game of Kenya”, Kennedy Otieno (Development Coach)

“Toriola has been exceptionally good and he is such a professional athlete and knows how to work with everyone. Kenya will definitely be utilizing his services more often. I would like to see him assist us in uplifting the playing standards of our junior players, so that we can have a strong team of junior players. We all know that the foundation of a strong national team is made from quality junior players playing and Toriola is the man to do this job. He has trained the junior players so well and they now want to play Quadri Aruna; they have asked Toriola to bring Aruna next time he comes back to the country.”