The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) intended to hire a Chinese coach, said NTTF Secretary Segun Oguntade in Lagos on Tuesday.

The NTTF Board had formally informed the National Sports Commission (NSC) of its intention, Oguntade added.

According to him, the decision to go for a Chinese was taken at the federation's last board meeting.

The federation has been without a coach since the retirement of the former national coach, Babatunde Obisanya, who left in October, 2009.

Oguntade said the federation did not have the financial resources to employ the coach, adding that the NSC could employ the federation's preference directly or explore the bilateral agreement between Nigeria and China to get one from the Asian country.

The secretary said the option of sending Nigerian players and coaches to train in China or the deployment of a Chinese to Nigeria to help develop the game could be explored through the bilateral agreement.

"The federation did not have the financial capability to employ a coach, what we did was to make recommendations to the NSC on our interest in having a Chinese coach," he told reporters.

Oguntade said the absence of a national coach would not affect Nigeria's participation in international championships.

He said the federation usually invited coaches from the states to assist Obisanya during preparations for major international events.

Table tennis players in Nigeria had been complaining of the absence of technical input to their training.

Table tennis will feature at the Youth Olympics in Singapore in August and the Commonwealth Games in India in October.