16 Dec 2020

Annually, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna visits a local orphanage; in addition, this year on Tuesday 15th December in Lagos, he presented two members of the National Paralympic Team with equipment.

Isau Ogunkunle and Faith Obazuaye were the fortunate recipients of goods totalling 1370 Euros.

by Olalekan Okusan

Aruna explained the gesture was borne out of his resolve to give back to society, especially to the Paralympians that have been making the country proud despite the challenges faced.

“On behalf of myself and Aruna Sports Shop, we are always happy to support athletes in Nigeria and this is a way of giving back. Having experienced the same kind of support in my first Olympic Games in London 2012. I think it is very important to support the Paralympians as well, who have been doing the country proud for decades. I hope this support will motivate them and help them to do much better in Tokyo, Japan.” Quadri Aruna

Alderson Bankole, second Vice President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation was most appreciative.

“I am personally impressed with the gesture of Aruna who is fond of thinking about others and I believe other top players should take a cue from this. I believe this will go a long way in motivating the athletes to aim high at Tokyo. I commend him and I look forward to a good performance from the athletes at Tokyo.” Alderson Bankole

Second Vice President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Alderson Bankole with Isua Ogunkunle at the presentation

Similarly, in his remarks, Adesoji Tayo, the Technical Director, was full of praise for the generous gesture.

“I am aware that Aruna has been doing a lot for young players and for him to also remember our Paralympians is inspiring for most of us. I believe he will continue to grow from strength to strength in his endeavours. Others should emulate him and I hope the players will see this gesture as a motivating factor to excel to Tokyo.” Adesoji Tayo

National Para table tennis coach Sunday Odebode was understandably delighted and saw the donation as a major motivating factor.

“I hope and believe this will help the players to focus more in training and excel at Tokyo.” Sunday Odebode

Ogunkunle and Obazuaye are African champions in class four and 10 respectively, Obazuaye is also a silver medalist at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and they will be making their Paralympic Games debut in Tokyo.

Both players thanked Aruna for the support; the package includes three pairs of racket coverings, blade, bat cover, bag, shirts, shorts, tracksuit, shoe, socks, towel and cap.

Isau Ogunkunle and Faith Obazuaye at the presentation in Lagos
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