A record eighth Olympics Games appearance for Nigeria’s Segun Toriola was halted by Egypt’s duo of Omar Assar and Dina Meshref after Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike lost in the mixed doubles finals of the Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the weekend in Tunis.
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Nigeria’s veterans Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike would aim at picking the Tokyo Olympics ticket when the singles and mixed doubles qualification event scheduled for February 27 to 29 kicks off in Tunisia.
Unfavoured Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo conquered three of the best players in Africa to be crowed the champion to come out of the continent.
Segun Toriola, Team Nigeria’s captain at the 12th African Games in Morocco, on Sunday in Rabat said Nigerian athletes and officials were set to dazzle at the competition.
Toriola, while reacting to comments against veteran athletes’ participation at the festival, told the News Agency of Nigeria the young athletes need the inspiration the old athletes can provide.
After making the semifinal stage of the men’s singles at the last ITTF African Championships in Mauritius as an unseeded player, Olajide Omotayo believes he is yet to fulfill his potential.
After falling to the Slokavians 24 hours ago, the Nigerian team made up of Quadri Aruna, Segun Toriola and Olajide Omotayo ensured Nigeria’s qualification to the knockout stage is guaranteed.
Having won against Turkey and Argentina, Nigeria was on the losing side on Tuesday against Slovakia in what was could described as a setback to their promotion ambition in Sweden.
Former African champion Quadri, defeated Ibrahim Gunduz 3-1 (11-7,5-11,11-4,11-6) in the first match of the championship in Halmstad, Sweden, to give Nigeria a 1-0 lead over Turkey.
Portugal-based Quadri had earlier defeated Singapore’s Xue Jie Pang 4-1 in the Men’s singles round of 16 to progress to the quarter final of the games.
The trio of Olajide Omotayo, Bode Abiodun, and Segun Toriola, earned Silver for Nigeria after they lost in the finals 0-3 to India’s Sharath Achanta, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai.
The two former champions played their last game in the tournament after they were beaten in the quarterfinal stage of the championship to set the stage for the top guns to fight for the title this year.
To win the tournament in 2016 in Khartoum, Sudan, Quadri defeated Omar Assar of Egypt 4-2, while Meshref also beat Edem Offiong of Nigeria
Already, 64 top players in the world, including Olympic and World Champion, China’s Ma Long, have been exempted from competing in the preliminary round of the championships, while they are expected to begin their campaigns in the main draw (first round) of the tournament
It’s the funding to continue to expose them to the best coaching better tournaments and of course to keep them equipped. We must continue to try and find the money to get them playing on the junior professional tour
However, the team will be relying on the financial support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in its quest to be part of the championship as the NTTF has made a formal request for the trip
However, when the Germany-based mother of two decided to organize a clinic for junior players in the country, she had thought that things have gone bad with the quality of the players in the country
The presentation was colourful, with the Executive Council of ITTF Africa paying glowing tributes to Toriola for putting table tennis on the world map as the first athlete in any sport in Africa to attend seven Olympic Games.
For the ITTF Africa boss, the decision to honour Toriola was taken by the Executive Council of ITTF Africa for his giant stride in the world
“I am still one of the best in my sport despite my age and my consistency in table tennis which sees me playing in two top regular clubs in Europe would remain an added advantage for me as I continue to play in world class competitions,” Toriola insisted
Majority of these Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports officials are collecting between $300 to $400 per day while the athletes are on $150