One of Sierra Leone’s best female Table Tennis player Haja Sesay left the shores of Sierra Leone on Friday for Germany on a three month table tennis course.
Speaking to Awoko Sports about her trip to Germany Haja in a cheerful mood with smiles all over her face said that her dream of going to have some international exposure in the sports discipline she likes very much has started to materialize in her life.
She stated that after securing the scholarship there was nobody to provide the air ticket for her trip. She disclosed that she only got to know about Adonis Aboud almost a week to her trip. Haja said when she explained about her situation to Adonis “he asked me a few questions – after answering them he decided to purchase the ticket which made my trip a reality.”
Haja promised that after the course she will return home and pass the knowledge that she has gained to her fellow female colleagues countrywide who do not have the opportunity to attend such a wonderful course.
She also appealed to her female colleagues not to relent in the sports “they must keep on pressing on if they want to achieve their goal” she said. She could not hide her joy as she said she feels very happy because this is the first time for Table tennis to have such an opportunity.
Haja revealed that they do not have enough female Table Tennis players in the country as most of them feel that they are just wasting their time in the sporting discipline as there is no international competition to participate in. she however appealed to them to come on board for the development of the game.
Haja went further to state that she started playing Table Tennis at Primary School level up to this present moment without representing Sierra Leone outside in any international competition mainly because of financial constraint.
She however participated in the only major local competition for the championship in 2005 which she won and since that time they have not played any such major competition.
Adonis who bought the air ticket for Haja revealed that Haja came to his office a week ago and she said that she wanted sponsorship. She later introduced herself as the female Table Tennis champion and she showed all her credentials which were genuine.
Adonis said Haja started to explain her plight to him that she had lost all hope that her trip would not materialize when a police woman directed her to him (Adonis) for assistance. During their conversation he asked her about the table tennis association and the chairman of the association whom she said is out of the country.
He mentioned that from the conversation all doors appeared to be closed. Adonis lamented that from history we have lost talented athletes to other countries for lack of encouragement. Lack of sponsorship he said was discouraging our young athletes “that is why they go overseas and naturalize for other countries, and during international games before they carry the flag of our country they carry the flag of other countries which is not good for the development of sports in our country – and you cannot blame them because they want to make their future and they do not have the necessary encouragement they deserve.” He went on “For some of these reasons we are losing some of our best athletes who should have put Sierra Leone on the map of sports.”
The philanthropist he is, Adonis said “That is why on these grounds we decided to come on board to buy a return ticket for Haja Sesay that cost 4.5 million Leones and she has her three months course paid for with accommodation.