Table tennis: Nigeria, Egypt clash in African Games finals

Nigeria will face Egypt in the men and women’s table tennis team event finals on Friday at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana.

The two seeds in the team events lived up to expectations from the group matches to the knockout rounds, outclassing their opponents on their way to the finals.

The Nigerian men’s team, led Quadri Aruna, also had Omotayo Olajide, Amadi Omeh and Taiwo Mati in their ranks.

Aruna spearheaded the Nigerians to a comfortable 3-1 win over Tunisia in the semi-finals at the Accra Conference Centre on Thursday to set up another epic final against the Egyptians.

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For the women’s team event, Nigeria had a smooth ride to the final with a convincing 3-0 win over South Africa in the semis, while the Egyptian ladies, like their male counterparts, had a jolly ride to the final, where they will face an Offiong Edem-led Nigerian side.

In their last meeting at Rabat 2019, Egypt prevailed in the men’s event to dethrone Nigeria, while the Egyptians have dominated the women’s event in the last three editions of the continent’s showpiece sports spectacle.

Meanwhile, South Africa made history in the women’s event as the Danisha Patel-inspired side claimed their first ever medal at the African Games after settling for a bronze medal with an all-important quarter-final win over hosts Ghana.

The quarter-final win over Ghana was what Patel needed to become the first South African player to lead the female team to a medal at the African Games.