My life as a table tennis champion 50 years after Waheed Ekun

Table tennis legend, Chief Waheed Ekun, Agba Akin Mayegun of Ibadanland, reflects on winning the first National Sports Festival Table Tennis Championship in 1973 and discusses the level of the game today. He shares his experience with Niyi Alebiosu and OLAWALE OLANIYAN, how he is ready to celebrate 50 years of winning the medal and his plan to open a foundation to nurture fresh talent in the Oyo State games.

50 years ago you won a gold medal at a sports festival, can you reflect on your sense of achievement?

I remember in 1973, that was 50 years ago, I won the Sports Festival table tennis championship by defeating Sunday Eboh in the final. In fact, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon was the guest of honour. I was 17 at the time and all I knew was how to play the game to the best of my ability. There were 12 states in Nigeria at that time and all the states participated in the championship, from the first round to the quarter-finals, I met players from different states until I reached the finals followed by a large crowd in the stadium because my opponent was a popular table tennis star in Lagos State, but I was a young player from Oyo State. From then on, Lagos always harassed us as a dominant force in sports.

I just prayed to God for victory because the crowd cheered him, even though I had those who supported me, they were not enough to silence Lagosians.

When the match started I won the first two games but Eboh came from behind to level the score making it 2-2 and when I played the fifth set I almost lost my concentration but by God I won the last round 3-2 and everyone in the hall embraced me. This was the scenario at the festival.

When we returned from the festival, we met the Governor of Western State, Colonel David Jemibewon. He just gave me a warm handshake. He then just did a handshake and encouraged me to keep it up. It was a great honor that we received from the state.

Despite the fact that the government did not receive compensation, I was not bothered because I did not even expect a monetary reward. What did I want to spend the money on? Nothing. Apart from going to school and at that time I was on scholarship from Muslim Grammar School, Odinjo. I didn’t pay any fee to the extent that whenever there was a championship, I would be sent to the stadium to prepare ahead. That was all we did then.

Before the sports festival, I have played various tournaments. I was in Lagos playing in the All Nigeria Championship in 1971, I was also in Port Harcourt for All Nigeria Secondary School Championship, the Coca-Cola Championship before I attended the Sports Festival in August 1973.

How did the National Sports Festival make you more popular?

In fact, the festival was a good place to get on the international stage. After winning the National Sports Festival, I was called up to the national team, after which I played for the Nigerian team at the Central African Championship, West African Championship and the All African Championship. That was the advantage of being in the national team. We had fun, we all played and there were no complaints, except that we didn’t miss school. We played all the championships and camped in Lagos. I had no chance to attend classes but because I was on scholarship in the school, I was always promoted in trial but there was no trial in WASSCE. Thank God I survived because of my hard work and extra hours.

How would you describe the level of table tennis in the country then and now?

Table tennis in the country at that time was more popular and generally accepted by everyone, because not all abilities play football. We had talent in both the junior and senior ranks and things went very well and we did very well with the small amount of compensation we were paid and we were all happy.

We also enjoy media coverage from the Nigerian Tribune, Daily Times, Daily Sketch and Western Nigerian television stations. Whenever we were featured, people knew more about us and that encouraged us to do better.

Where should we read the collapse of the game these days?

So many factors are responsible for what we see in the game today. Things have changed. We might want to blame the playing public. Everyone who plays table tennis wants to be an overnight millionaire, and when they don’t have that million, they look the other way and venture into football, where they make millions. That’s why there aren’t as many stars in table tennis as there used to be. The tennis stars of that era were focused on the future, not on the idea of ​​traveling abroad to play anywhere. There was nothing like that, otherwise I would have also been abroad since 1974.

In 1974, I was in Europe for three months with the national team, despite the fact that I was still a high school student. Even though the thought of staying back crossed my mind, I mustered up the courage to come back and be better. Here I am today, I thank God Almighty.

Nowadays, most of our players always have it in their mind that they want to travel out of the country and whenever they represent the country, they immediately go back, use their passport to travel and never come again. It is one of the things that is killing our sport, especially table tennis. Although going abroad is not a crime as they have most of the facilities, however, the Nigerian authorities did not have any negotiation on where the gifts are going so they were just moving the ship, it killed our sport when most of the stars left Foreign countries.

I particularly remember in 1989, I took Nigerians abroad for three months, specifically four players, Sule Olaleye, Gbenga Ogundimu, Kazeem Badiru and Gbenga Akinola; who were then junior players. The report I wrote for the national body then, in 1990, was that four players surprised the Nigerians. The first tournament of the year was the Coca-Cola Championship, it was won by Kazeem Badru, one of the boys I took to Germany. The others won in different championships, but in December of that year they said they had the Interclub Championship in the United States. They left with Nigerian Airways but did not come back. That was the end and thus Nigeria lost the investment and opportunities of these boys representing the country. They haven’t been back since. That was in 1989 and today they are the big boys.

What are the plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of your award and the new foundation to be launched?

I must be thankful to God Almighty that I have been through so many things in the last 50 years, but we survived with God’s help. No serious injury or illness, my people are not asking Nigerians to donate money to me, many people we played together have left but by His grace I am still alive.

I felt it was necessary to celebrate yourself if no one celebrated you. Sunday Eboh, who is now based in Germany and is one of the first Nigerians to travel to play professional table tennis, has promised to be part of the celebration and even agreed to play a novelty match that day to mirror the events of 1973. Im just thankful to God. However, in 1974, I had a terrible accident, I was in my house in Agben, Ibadan with my brother and the house collapsed in the middle of the night.

The incident shook the whole city, my brother was picked up dead from the garbage that day. We were in the same bed, people thought I was at Liberty Stadium training, but one of the boys said Waidi Ekun is inside, so people looked for the body until they saw my leg, assuming I was dead, so they pulled me out. and took me to University College Hospital (UCH) where I was admitted for six months. I was a student at the time and I was told that Governor Jemibewon visited me at UCH and the hospital management did their best to ensure that I survived the accident.

If I survived that incident, it means I have something good to do, so I am thankful to God that I survived that accident.

On the anniversary, we plan to establish a foundation to encourage young people to benefit from the world of table tennis.

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