Enitan Oshodi Taking African Table Tennis to Global Heights

Growing up playing table tennis, his dream was to become a top player but he soon realised that hard work without really having the natural talent might not be enough to make his dream materialise. Inspired by the likes of Dr. Adegboyega Efunkoya, who was administering the game while he was young, it was no surprise that Wahid Enitan Oshodi decided to delve into the administration of table tennis. Today, the former Commissioner for Sports in Lagos State has emerged one of the greatest administrators of ping pong in the world. Just last Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,  he was elected President of the African Table Tennis Federation, ATTF, the first Nigerian to achieve the feat, therefore, making him the only Nigerian currently presiding over a Continental sports body. Oshodi has vowed to take African table tennis to a new height. He spoke with Kunle Adewale shortly after his election as ATTF boss 

As a student at Methodist Boys’ High School Lagos, Wahid Enitan Oshodi topped his class from Form One to Form Five, before he gained admission into the University of Lagos to study Engineering. However, the then school principal, Late Chief Ade Osuneye felt he should have put in for medicine considering his academic prowess. After graduating as an Engineer, he went on to study Law and today he runs a very successful law firm. But all these count for little compared to what he has achieved with Table Tennis in Nigeria and indeed Africa. He remains the first Nigerian to be elected into the board of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation and the first Nigerian to be elected ATTF President.

On what informed his quest for the ATTF Presidency, he said, “I believe we have new ideas that can help the growth of the game. Table Tennis is a massive product, but we need innovative thinking to turn it into a more attractive and lucrative sport.

“As time goes on, we will introduce new exciting events and, more importantly, new exciting ways of delivering our product. It is not enough to have matches, but we must make these matches entertaining family fun events.”

Asked what it means to him to be in charge of table tennis in Africa now having started from Lagos State, and his set goals as ATTF boss, he responded, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve at this level. It’s been hard work over the years from state, regional, national and now continental, which is a big opportunity to improve table tennis in Africa. As a team, we did a lot of work in the past. Table tennis is an enormous product and we need innovative thinking now to make it lucrative for the players, for the countries, and that is our target goal. We have a good team that has big contacts and understands the game. So an opportunity has presented itself to move forward with table tennis and make it one of the top three sports in Africa.

“We have to be honest with ourselves, football remains the leader in sports in Africa, basketball is also doing well with the support of the NBA and also athletics. “However, I think table tennis can fit into one of those three. This is the sport everybody plays and now we have to make it more exciting, more lucrative. We have fantastic young players all over Africa.”

While most people draw inspiration from former champions, for Oshodi, it is the administrators of table tennis of yesteryears that inspired him.

“People talk about the players of yesteryears, but for me it’s the administrators of yesteryears, I’m a great fan of Dr. Adegboyega Efunkoya who was my neighbour while growing up and I learnt a lot watching some of the players who lived with him, such as the greatest player of that era, Atanda Musa, Olawunmi Majekodumi and the likes. Table tennis when I was growing up was a massive sport, but I learnt very quickly that I wasn’t that good a player, so I helped to count the scores and stuff like that and it helped me tremendously down this path and I’m grateful for that.

“It’s something I’ll dedicate to people like Dr. Efunkoya, even outside table tennis, people like General Henry Adefowope, are the people we see administering the sport. Thankfully, we are here today, but there is no point being here if we won’t make the difference and that is the most important thing. We need to take table tennis to the next level,” the University of Lagos Engineering graduate noted.

For the newly elected ATTF President, youth development, more participation, increased revenue, professional organisation, and improvements in our governance processes will be his focal points of development for African tennis under his watch.

“We will continue in this regard. The volume of young talents across the continent is a thing of joy to the federation but we need to find the resources to help their development. That is a key goal of the ATTF.

Inadequacy of standard equipment is one of the banes of African table tennis, but the Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos alumni said his administration is up to the task.

“We are already working with equipment providers. We have an agreement with Butterfly, the top equipment manufacturer, for equipment supply at our three major events, but we now need to explore ways of getting equipment to our smaller federations. “Equipment is key to development, and we need to help our member associations source equipment at low prices. This means improving our marketing and seeking new sponsorship deals,” he said.

Oshodi indeed is cognisant of the fact that African players need to participate in more international tournaments to be better ranked in the world and he said it’s one of the cardinal points of his administration.

“This is the way forward for our sport. We continue to look in this direction. We need to acquire resources to assist our top table tennis players. Again, this comes under our quest to seek funds,” he explained.

Oshodi’s journey in sports administration started in the year 2000 when he was appointed to the Lagos State Sports Council Governing Board under the administration of former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu. He later became the chairman of the Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) in the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola and was later appointed Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development in 2011. Thereafter, he was elected President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) where he brought vibrancy to the sport, unearthing international stars like Quadri Aruna and Olajide Omotayo. Oshodi was recognised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) as he was appointed the chairman of its Nomination Committee.

In 2019, he was elected the Deputy President of ATTF and in 2021, he beat candidates from China and Europe to top the voting for the post of the Executive Vice President of ITTF. His ingenuity in sports administration has made Nigeria one of the table tennis hubs in the world. On October 15, 2024, at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, he was unanimously elected as the 6th President of ATTF. With his election, Oshodi is the only Nigerian currently presiding over a continental sports body.