by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Enthusiastically, he explained his proposals to Olalekan Okusan, the Press Officer for the African Table Tennis Federation.

We want to return table tennis to national stardom in terms of numbers of players and spectators at our events, as well as to increase the financial status of the game. We have a powerful and dedicated new marketing commission with the sole aim of boosting the financial income of the sport.

For now the focus is all on increasing the number of players, number of competitions, spectators and positive publicity in the press following each competition. We intend to combine this with our new phenomenon of Specialised Strategic Partnerships in which we want to partner only with sponsors who can not only stay for a long time but also only those who have a direct benefit to offer our players.  

At the Uganda Olympic Committee there is now a programme being pioneered called the Japan 2020 Qualification roadmap. It involves acquiring finances and equipment to support sport associations to qualify for the Japan 2020 Olympic Games. The programme includes fully funded international trips. If this materialises well, then Uganda will definitely be seen more at major events.

Basically my dream is to reach a stage where we can have table tennis competitions with many players and many spectators that can mesmerize the entire nation and focus attention on our game.

I hope the International Table Tennis Federation will continue to give us as much support as possible, particularly in terms of equipmen. In Uganda we also pray and expect that the International Table Tennis Federation and African Table Tennis Federation will support the strengthening of the game in the Eastern Africa region and give us a major attractive competitions in this region on which we can capitalise.