Table Tennis step up preparations towards Rio 2016 with Novelty League

Story: Kweku Zurek

The Ghana Table Tennis Association has stepped up their preparation towards the Rio 2016 Olympics. The table tennis team of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) last Saturday sold out one of the best performances when both their male and female sides run riot to comfortably win 3-0 over their Ghana Police Service and Ghana Navy counterparts respectively in the Novelty Table Tennis League.

Featuring national stars like Emmanuel Commey, Felix Lartey and Derek Abrefa in their male teams, the GIS were one of five clubs in the 11 league competition to record dominant 3-0 scorelines in best of five matches.

The other clubs who began the campaign with flawless 3-0 victories in the male category are  the Ghana Prisons Service who beat King's Table Tennis Academy and the Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA) who accounted for the Police Service.

The others are the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who defeated Team Baboo and  the Ghana Army team who also thrashed Ashaiman-based Nago Club.

In other results, KIng's Table Tennis Academy recovered from their first loss against the Police team to beat Tema Club 3-2 in their second tie, GRA upstaged Tema Club 3-1 while Team Baboo pipped Napo Club 3-1 with  the Ghana Navy making it two wins out of two with 3-2 and 3-1 victories respectively over the Prisons Service and the Ghana Army.

In a related development, the GIS featuring the superior Ping-pong talents of 2013 SWAG Table Tennis Player of the year, Linda Annor and HIlda Agbotah pummelled a listless Navy side into submission in the six team womens edition.

The ever-aggressive, Annor made  conveniently beat her opponent Dorothy Obuobi while Agbotah overpowered Eunice Quiason in twenty minutes before the GIS completed the emphatic rout with a doubles victory their Navy opponents.

Other intriguing clashes in the women's competition, saw Ghana Army beat Police 3-2 after Celia Baah-Danso had defeated Millicent in a tensed tie-break. The GRA also trounced Tema Club 3-0.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic after the matches, the president of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, Mawuko Afadzinu, hinted that the association was on the verge of gaining a sponsorship deal for the league soon.

 "We are hopeful of tying down a headline sponsor by the fourth week of the Table Tennis League. We are already in negotiations with several organisations and the start of the competition will facilitate our efforts at enticing a sponsor", Mr Afadzinu added.