The best of Africa’s Table Tennis players are at the Rades Multipurpose indoor arena in Tunisia competing for eight Olympics singles tickets to Tokyo 2020.
Ibrahim Diaw from Senegal is on course to become the first Table tennis player from his country to qualify for the Olympics after seeing off the continent’s top seed, Aruna Quadri in a 4-2(11-7,11-8,11-8,6-11,11-13,11-7) win.
He topped the group while Aruna and Hman Adam tied up in second place.
Female star, Edem Offiong of Nigeria technically qualified for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after a difficult 4-3 (13-11,11-1,9-11,11-95-11,8-11,11-6) victory over home favorite Fadwa Garci.
Although she waited for the result between Fadwa and Gulti Marta to officially qualify.
Incidentally, Ghana’s Emmanuel Commey lost to Ibrahim Diaw of Senegal in the second round of the qualifiers.
It was also a dream come true for Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo after clinching an Olympic slot to debut at the forthcoming games in Tokyo.
Olufunke Oshonaike joined the 7th club of Olympians.
The 45-year-old Nigerian officially qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics becoming the first-ever African female athlete to do so on seven occasions in Table tennis or any other sport.
Aruna Quadri was forced to withdraw from his last qualification match against Hman Adam due to a recurring thigh injury.
Consequently, he finished 3rd in group A and is yet to qualify, but has a chance to qualify for the Olympics through the ranking.
It was a sigh of relief for Tunisia’s Hman Adam on sealing the last singles qualification spot to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
There were some Emotional scenes as Bouriah Larbi of Algeria was surrounded by well-wishers who had come to support him in his journey to Olympics qualification.
Sarah Hanffou and Fadwa Garci picked the last 2 tickets in the women’s singles.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Sammy Heywood Okine
