by Olalekan Okusan, ITTF-Africa Press Officer
The presentations were made by Sarah Hanffou, the founder of Ping Sans Frontières, an organisation which uses table tennis as a vehicle for education and to make a positive change in society.
Sarah Hanffou explained:
“We are supporting Botswana because they presented a very interesting grassroots development project with two main goals; introducing table tennis in pre-schools through the building of concrete tables and use of mini tables, as well as cultivating an interest of playing table tennis at a younger stage. Also Uganda decided to bring a women’s team to the 12th African Games in Morocco, they are making huge efforts to support girls and women.
Kenya has also brought the youngest player of the tournament, Jenny Compell. We welcome her in the table tennis family and congratulate the Kenya Table Tennis Association for the efforts towards girls and women.
Countries like Eritrea, Guinea and Chad are participating in the African Games for the first time. We want to encourage them to participate in continental events and to set up table tennis programmes for girls. In Ghana, we have been supporting the NK Foundation based in Takoradi and the Asoba Foundation based in Accra. These foundations plan to introduce a competitive and educational component for children through table tennis mini cadet and the cadet league in the country. Moreover, they are specifically targeting young girls, focusing both on education and table tennis.
In Côte d’Ivoire, we have a partnership agreement since 2016. The main goal of this partnership is to support them in their development programme and especially the democratisation of table tennis for all.
We were able to make the donations thanks to our club partners in France, volunteers and to the brand Cornilleau who donated blades, rubbers and balls. Some shirts were also donated to these countries.
Concluding, Khaled El-Salhy, President of African Table Tennis Federation commended Ping Sans Frontières for their support; Fahd Daim, Secretary-General of the Kenya Table Tennis Association endorsed the views.
