…….As Namibian open champion reflects ardently about his sport
By John Tuerijama
Though table tennis is relatively a small sport code compared to the outdoor sport, as those in the know are confident that if enough funding is injected into the sport, table tennis could be in the top 20 sport codes in the country.
There are over 50-plus sport codes affiliated to the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) whose annual financial allocation from the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Services is based on an outdated categorization of the sport codes.
The current Namibian Table Tennis Open Champion winner as well as the 2017 Master Cup Champion, Heiko Fleidl told Confidente in an interview this week that though table tennis is not a visible sport compared to the more affluent sport codes such as football, rugby, cricket and hockey he has for the past six years represented the country at international competitions.
When asked about the popularity of the sport, Fleidl said the sport is one of the best administered code, and that its membership is increasing gradually. He said the sport like many other indoor sport codes is unfortunately not as popular as the outdoor sport codes.
“Community involvement is limited in terms of the number of people playing the sport, we need to change the mind-set of people towards the sport, it’s a modern sport and the attraction in Africa is there especially in the northern part of the continent,” said Fleidl.
The former chairperson of the Namibia Table Tennis Association (NTTA) said the interest in the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 could best be described as unfortunately the weakest confederation in Africa, as the best playing nations in the world are in Europe and the northern African countries that are therefor closer to the real action and opportunities.
“The sport has the potential and can be played by all young and old,” It’s a very affordable sport in terms of equipment, and is an easy sport to play and enjoy, as all that is needed is a table and a net to play,” he said.
The 32-year-old, table tennis sensation is arguably Namibia’s top of the cream table tennis player, who started playing the sport at the tender age of ten, when he played the sport with his older brother, in his father’s parent’s garage in Swakopmund.
“Having played the sport for the past 22-years, I have really never stopped playing table tennis and once you start playing you will never stop,” said Fleidl.
“We have table tennis players in their 70’s still competing as well as top female and junior players who play very well table tennis,” said the former NTTA chairperson.
He said that there are young players who need to be groomed and developed just like himself, having started his playing career at the West High School and the Namib High School at the coastal town of Swakopmund between 2008 and 2013 during the membership of the then chairperson, Vigrid Gobel.
Having worked tirelessly on improving his playing skill, Fleidl worked and practised on his game, and was driven by consistency and kept growing.
In 2007, the passionate table tennis player received a priceless opportunity to compete his studies at Fachhock Schule Vunten after studying for three years at the University of Science and Technology (NUST).
“Austria opened my eyes to the potential of the sport though the sport within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is still developmental. The leading table tennis playing nations in southern Africa are Angola, Botswana and South Africa while Namibia is fourth in terms of strength,” stressed Fleidl.
“I played table tennis on a daily basis and that has helped me a lot during the competitions, and while in Namibia I apply what I learned in Austria,” said the current NTTA Marketing Manager.
Fleidl said that their intention is to come third overall at December’s African Union Sports Council Region 5 competition to be hosted by Botswana, of which they would be fielding a female and male team of four players each.
He revealed that trials are scheduled for early September, “ We will be dedicated to our training sessions to really compete and improve on our performance in Swakopmund where the previous instalment and the RS JJ championships were held in 2015,” said Fleidl.
The Windhoek Consulting Engineers (WCE) Junior Associate ply his trade for the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) Table Tennis Club which won the club championships in 2016, has also represented the table tennis association in various capacities from chairperson to secretary.
He represented the country at an international competition held in Dortmund, Germany in 2012. The table tennis fanatic described the level of the competition as very high with Namibia having competed against the likes of Sri Lanka and Zambia to mention but a few.
“We managed to take one match against Zambia in the team world championship though we had tough times,” he recalled.
Born in Luderitz, Fleidl said that his stay in Austria, has helped him grow in the sport as he could handle the pressure and concentrate attentively on the game at hand adding that the competition in Germany was truly a learning curve.
He said the national table tennis team also competed at international events like in Paris, France and in Tokyo, Japan in 2014 in the team world championship where they managed to beat The Guam Island. An unincorporated and organized territory of the United States situated in Micronesia in the western pacific ocean, located in Oceania.
Meanwhile, the association calls on aspiring table tennis players to contact the NTTA via its website or on Facebook.