by Olalekan Okusan
The quarter-final finish achieved by Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games has motivated many African players to believe that they can win a medal at the global multi-sports fiesta.
It was this that prompted the continental ruling body, ATTF, to collaborate with the Paris based club to use their centre as training camp for national associations in order to hone their skills ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Apart from training the players, under the watchful eyes of experts, technical officials from the continent will also be educated at the centre.
According to the ATTF President, Khaled El-Salhy, the Executive Council approved the contract with ACBB to help African players (national teams, clubs and talented juniors)
“The contract will be for one year and renewable until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, evaluating the benefits year by year. The participation of African top players in such a programme will be by application through national associations and confirmation from ATTF as well.” Khaled El-Salhy
The President of ACBB, Frédéric Reuseau expressed appreciation to ATTF for the partnership.
“First of all, I thank President Khaled El Salhy and his team for their confidence. We are very pleased with the partnership with ATTF. Especially since we already have two African athletes (Algeria’s Larbi Bouriah and Tunisia’s Adam Hmam) qualified for the Olympic Games who are preparing in our international training centre. In addition to these two athletes, we have about 15 professional players from all continents who train in our centre. I would like to thank Ali Kanaté and Segun Toriola for bringing this project to ATTF’s Board of Directors.” Frédéric Reuseau
According to contract, each national association will take care of the fees for their players; the fees will be due to special rates provided by ACBB to ATTF confirmed players.
“The ACBB Table Tennis Club will welcome within its international training centre, in training camp and/or during the whole sports season, athletes from African federations. These sportsmen and women will benefit from the facilities and training provided by the technical staff who work regularly at the training centre.
The ACBB TT Club in partnership with the ATTF will organise every year a tournament and a preparation camp with the participation of the best African players. These two events will allow the collection of financial resources which will help in the financing of the operations in the form of scholarships granted to athletes or executives wishing to go to the training centre of the ACBB TT Club. These financial resources can also be used to enable executives or sportsmen of the ACBB TT Club to travel to Africa to develop projects related to table tennis.” Frédéric Reuseau
According to the details of the deal, the partnership is valid for one year and renewable until the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“This partnership is a real opportunity for Africa. I congratulate both parties for the establishment of this partnership which will begin in October with a solidarity tournament that will see the participation of the best African players.” Ali Kanate.