Orok Duke's Inauguration as Chairman of Cross River State Table Tennis Association: Spotlighting His Contributions to the Development of the Sport

 

It did not come as a surprise when on Monday May 4, 2026, the Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission, Hon. Etta Lawrence, inaugurated Rt. Hon. Orok Duke PhD, as Chairman of the Table Tennis Association in the state. Duke was inaugurated alongside several other eminent personalities to steer a clean path for the development of various sports in the state.

Prior to this appointment, Rt. Hon. Orok Duke PhD had long served as a tireless advocate for sports development, particularly table tennis, in Cross River State and Nigeria as a whole. With distinguished service as Cross River’s Sports Ambassador since 2007 and later as Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission (2015–2019), he brought vision and resources to grassroots sports development.

Under Duke’s leadership, the Canaan Table Tennis Club of Calabar has evolved into a national powerhouse and incubator of multiple generations of champions. From the late 1980s onward, Duke helped revive the state’s table tennis programme, especially following the exodus of coaches and top players after the creation of Akwa Ibom State in 1987. Together with Coach Richard George Edem, he took over the reins and built the sport from scratch.

Over nearly four decades, Duke steered Canaan Table Tennis Club to become Cross River’s premier sporting brand. Leveraging support from successive governors, he elevated the sport to deliver the greatest medal yield among more than 30 other disciplines in the state’s sports commission portfolio.

One of Duke’s landmark achievements while he was in-charge of the Sports Commission, was the inauguration of a professional Taraflex flooring imported from China for the Table Tennis hall at the U.J Esuene Stadium, making it one of the few ITTF-approved venues in Nigeria capable of hosting national and international table tennis events.

Under the auspices of Canaan Table Tennis Club, four pioneering female table tennis players emerged as Nigeria’s first women Olympians in the sport: Offiong Edem, Funke Oshonaike, Cecilia Otu, and Janet Effiom.

Offiong Edem, from Calabar, went on to represent Nigeria at multiple Olympic Games (2004, 2012, 2016, 2020) and achieved a high world ranking while playing in Europe. Cecilia Otu won women’s doubles gold with Edem at the 2007 and 2011 All Africa Games and secured the Nigerian national singles title in 2017 before going on to compete at the Commonwealth Games. 

Funke Oshonaike and Janet Effiom have also trained internationally and represented Nigeria at elite levels after honing their skills at Canaan Table Tennis Club led by the very Rt. Hon. Orok Duke. Their emergence shattered gender barriers in Nigeria’s table tennis scene, and their achievements amplified Cross River’s medal tally and national reputation.

Beyond elite athletes, Rt. Hon. Orok Duke has also invested in youth development. In 2021 he sponsored teams across cadets, juniors, and seniors in male and female categories, supporting national titles and producing new champions such as cadet champion Idorenyin Udoaka and junior standout Vivian Oku.

In June 2024, Canaan Queens emerged runners-up in the African Club Table Tennis Championships held in Benghazi, Libya. Again in January 2025, Orok Duke's contribution in the sport was recognized when Canaan Table Tennis Club was nominated by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to represent the country at the African Club Table Tennis Championships in Tunis, Tunisia.

In April the same year, Canaan Table Tennis players helped Cross River emerge as joint overall champions in table tennis at the Niger Delta Youth Sports Festival in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. That event coincided with the club’s 35th anniversary, marking three and a half decades of sustained excellence and medal-winning performance across three generations of athletes.

Also, in May 2025 Hope Udoaka of Canaan Table Tennis Club, representing Cross River, emerged national female champion at the 5th Michael and Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships held in Otan Ayegbaju, Osun State.

Duke personally praised these achievements and reaffirmed his commitment to development of the sport, while at the same time, paid glowing tributes to Cross River Governor, His Excellency Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu, who has been unwavering in his support for the overall development of sports in the state.

However, Orok Duke's impact extends beyond table tennis. Back then as Sports Commission Chairman, he publicly called for massive investments in sports infrastructure and programming, arguing that sports should not be driven by poverty but by talent development and institutional support. His efforts included organizing football clinics, forging partnerships, and securing funding - even mobilizing private sector support to ensure Cross River’s participation in youth sports festivals despite budgetary constraints.

Today, Duke’s legacy stands in every medal, every national certificate, and every athlete breaking into international circuits. From nurturing the Canaan Queens to commissioning ITTF‑standard training facilities, and sustaining a youth pipeline, his multi‑decadal leadership transformed table tennis in Cross River and influenced the broader Nigerian sporting ecosystem.

To sum it all, Rt. Hon. Orok Duke’s work, particularly through the Canaan Table Tennis Club of Calabar, has produced some of Nigeria’s most prominent female table tennis figures, created elite training infrastructure, maintained multi‑generational talent development and positioned Cross River as a hub of table tennis excellence in Nigeria and Africa.

It is therefore appropriate and commendable that the State Sports Commission, under the visionary leadership of Hon. Etta Lawrence, has recognized Rt. Hon. Orok Duke's immense contributions to table tennis development, and rightly honoured him with leadership in the sport.