Reports say that the quartet of Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri, Funke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong represented Nigeria in table tennis at the Games.
The players only qualified for the men’s and ladies singles events and had all crashed out of the Games in their first and second matches.
Peters told newsmen that the early exit showed that Nigeria was ill prepared and so was not a match for its opponents.
The umpire however added that the early exit called for early preparations.
“We should forget about this defeat and begin preparations for the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2016,’’ he said.
The umpire noted that even countries which prepared well in table tennis usually find it difficult to win medals at international meets because of China’s supremacy in the sport.
He noted that this is Toriola’s sixth appearance in the Olympics and that it was a good glory for Nigeria.
“Toriola’s has played in six Olympics and it is a good glory for Nigeria because many of his colleagues have not attained such height,’’ he said.
Arinye, in her comment said that the early exit of the Nigerian players was due to the neglect of developmental programmes in the game.
“Our early loss is not good for the image of the country and this is due to the fact that our developmental programmes have been neglected,” she said.
She added that the early loss was also a setback for Nigeria because Nigeria’s representatives in the event were foreign based players.
“The country has focused so much on the foreign based athletes at the expense of much more experienced home-based athletes and this ought not to be so,” she said
The umpire was of the opinion that home-based players, if well exposed and well prepared, would polish Nigeria’s image better at the event than foreign based.
She said that Nigeria would continue to experience such occurrence as long as the nation shy away from its developmental programmes.
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