By George Osei
Young and enterprising ping pong player Adolf Awotie has set himself the mandate of becoming Ghana?s next number one player within the next couple of years and according to him, he is leaving no stone unturned as he seeks to fulfill that dream.
Currently ranked number three, by the Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), the former national youth champion has began the process of what is says is a comprehensive programme of action that would see him take the reins of the sport within the period he has set for himself.
?The possibility of me becoming number one is not far fetched as I compete fiercely with those ranked above me (Felix Lartey and Joe Sam), and I have the feeling that I am getting closer by the day?, he said in an interview.
Awotie took to the sport at preparatory school level (ST. Francis, Nungua) where he was the district champion (Ledzokuku/Krowor) in the Under 12 category and went on to represent the zone at the regional championships where he also excelled.
That was where the national team selectors saw the potential in him and quickly drafted him into the scheme of things as a potential national champion and he has not looked back since.
His exploits in the discipline took him to the Aggrey Memorial School, Cape Coast, where he had his secondary education and where he was also a champion at both school and regional level throughout the period of his study.
Awotie won the national Under 18 boys? competition in 2001 and went on to win it many more times before stepping up to new challenges ? local and international.
His list of achievements includes winning the Seyi Malamo Nigeria Open (Under 18) in Lagos in 2001, the Ghana top 16 (Under 18), 2001 and a host of second and third place finishes at senior level in Ghana.
In all, Awotie can boost of 18 trophies and medals won at various stages of his development as a table tennis player and he yearns for more.
Through the efforts of his manager, the Ghana Prisons Service employee has made some breakthrough on the international scene including playing in the tough Austrian league which features some of the best players from continental Europe and beyond.
He features for the Dayton club in the Austrian whose location is 10561 Success Lane Centerville, OH 45458 and will soon depart Ghana to continue from where he left off as he seeks to cement his position in the team.
Still a member of the national team, he hopes the experienced gained from this foreign adventure would be the springboard that would catapult him to the top in the Ghanaian game as seeks to build momentum ahead of the next Olympics in Rio, Brazil in 2016.
