A large number of Nigerian players shot back to winning ways, with many of them winning tough games at the 2021 ITTF African Championship, taking place at Sports Palace Complex in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where the knockout and quarter-final matches held on Thursday.
Leading the charge were national champion, Taiwo Mati and fellow-rookie, Azeez Solanke, who are both making their debuts, as they showed class in Nigeria’s group triumphs over Ivory Coast and South Africa.
Megasportsarena.com reports that it was Mati that had the toughest match when he confronted West African champion Oba Oba Kizito of Cote d’Ivoire in the first match of the men’s team event.
Mati was stretched beyond limit with both players matching each other strength-for-strength and at the end of the tie, it was Mati that earned Nigeria a 1-0 lead.
Olamide Omotayo increased the lead for Nigeria with a convincing 3-0 win over Cedric Oba before Solanke ended the dream of a comeback by the Ivorians.
Against the South Africans, Mati, Omotayo and Solanke needed less than an hour across three matches for Nigeria to remain unbeaten in the group and advance to the knockout stage.
In the ladies’ class, Offiong Edem anchored the women’s team against Kenya and Uganda, with Fatimo Bello and Bukky Ajayi, who are both debuting at the competition, also recording convincing victories over their opponents to progress to the knockout round.
Like Nigeria, Egypt recorded 100 percent win in all their matches with Omar Assar and Dina Meshref aching the team’s win over Cameroon, Kenya and Ghana.
