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Offiong Edem became the first athlete to earn Nigeria a medal at the 13th African Games after finishing in top three in the Women’s Singles event.
According to a statement by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday, the women’s singles held at the Accra International Conference Centre.
It also stated that the Spain-based star played her best matches in the last 16 and quarter-finals when she defeated the Alhodaby twins – Marwa and Mariam – to join the league of medalists in the games.
Set up against defending champion Dina Meshref of Egypt in the semi-final, Edem caved in with 0-4 defeat to settle for a bronze medal just like she did at the 2019 edition in Rabat, Morocco.
“I am so happy that we were able to attend the last World Championships in Korea and this really helped my game a lot.
“I want to thank the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for their support and I believe attending such a competition really helped me personally here in Ghana.
“The Egyptians are ahead of us because they attend more competitions than us and we hope we can get such support to return to the top of the game in Africa,” she said.
Similarly, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna who played in the final of the men’s Singles Table Tennis event at the ongoing African Games in Accra, Ghana has Silver medal for the country.
Considered the battle of two elephants, the final match between the Nigerian and his arch-rival Omar Assar lived up to expectations, but it was Assar who laughed last to claim the second GOLD medal of the day for Egypt as his teammate, 16-year-old Hana Goda won the women’s Singles title.
Assar reclaimed the title he surrendered to Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo at the last edition of the Games in Rabat in 2019, prevailing 4-3 to reign supreme in Accra.
Africa’s highest ranked player Aruna had beaten Egypt’s Youssef Abdel-Aziz in the quarterfinal, and dispatched another Egyptian – Mohamed El-Beiali, to qualify for his third consecutive final at the African Games.