by Olalekan Okusan, ITTF Africa, Press Officer

Kozito Oba has a romance with table tennis.

“I started playing table tennis at eight; it was my older brother who played so I followed his footsteps. I decided to choose table tennis because I don’t like combat or contact sports. I like table tennis because I thought it was interesting and I wanted to keep playing.” Kizito Oba

Dedicated, progress has been made and he is a young man with ambition.

“My dream is to be at least once on the podium of an African Championships or African Games and even participate in the Olympic Games, being the first Ivorian table tennis player. Honestly, if I give everything I have and I have everything I need to progress in table tennis, I can be among the top five players in Africa.” Kozito Oba

At present, Kizito Oba is with Noisy Le Grand Table Tennis Club in France but believes his movement to France would aid his Olympic dream.

“It is my wish and my greatest dream to represent my country at this Olympic Games.” Kozito Oba

Dreaming of success and playing on the big stage; Kozito Oba is also realistic. He is well aware of the current strengths of Egypt and Nigeria.

“For me, it’s difficult to rival Nigeria and Egypt in Africa because they are two great African table tennis nations. They have very good players. In addition, they manage to find funding or sponsors to help them in their activities, which is not the case in some African countries in the sport such as table tennis which is not very well known.” Kozito Oba

Ambitious, most certainly he is a good ambassador for Côte d’Ivoire.