President of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, Mawuko Afadzinu, says the ongoing 2026 ITTF-Africa Youth Championship at the Borteyman Sports Complex has set a new record for participation in the history of African youth table tennis.
Afadzinu described the scale of the tournament as unprecedented and a sign of the sport’s growing momentum on the continent.
“The numbers we have here are without precedence. This is the highest number of countries we’ve had in any youth competition in the Africa Table Tennis Federation’s history, and that has brought with it a lot of excitement. Of course, it also means that we have a more complicated situation to handle, and we are here.”
On the performance of Team Ghana, Afadzinu said the team is making progress but still has a major hurdle to overcome — Nigeria.
“We look at the games, we see the various categories playing out. We see the top tier, we see the next level, we see the third level, and possibly the fourth level. And Ghana is somehow in the next level. We’ve got into the quarterfinals, we lost our quarterfinals against Nigeria, which is the block we have to overcome, because our ambition is to beat Nigeria and to get into category one”.
The GTTA President said the youth championship is part of a bigger plan to put Ghana on the world stage.“We are going to continue to strive towards that objective. We also are looking at being able to qualify for the Olympic Games, at least.
And so those are the two major milestones that this tournament prepares us towards. We look at everything happening within the context of the broader strategic objectives, and we believe that it’s been good.”
Afadzinu praised the raw talent on display from Ghana’s young players and stressed the need for continued investment in coaching.
“Our players have played quite well. There are elements that we need fine-tuning and coaching, and we believe that the raw talent is there, the potential is there, the prospects look good, and we need to make all the necessary effort to move to the next level.”
The 2026 ITTF-Africa Youth Championship at Borteyman is expected to serve as a key qualifier and development platform for African players aiming for world junior events and future Olympic Games.
