Nigeria Dominates Team Events At WTTC West Africa Qualifiers

Hosts Nigeria showed its superiority over their West African neighbours as they dominated the men’s and women’s team events at the 2022 World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) West Africa qualifiers, taking place at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

Despite being flawless in their passage to the final, the Nigeria men’s team had to come from behind to beat Cote d’Ivoire 3-2 in the final. 2019 West Africa Champion, Oba Oba Kizito, was unbeaten in the final as he was able to overcome Amadi Umeh and Rilwan Akanbi to give the Ivorians the two wins.

However, Ali Kanate and Cedric Oba were no match for Akanbi and Azeez Solanke who put the tie at 2-2. Thereafter, Umeh ensured that the hosts claimed the double titles on the first day of the competition with a 3-0 win over Kanate.

Women’s Team

In the women’s team final, Nigeria claimed a landslide 3-0 victory against Ghana.

The Nigeria women’s team led by the national champion, Fatimo Bello, did not drop a set in all their matches to emerge as team event champions with 3-0 wins over Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and then Ghana in the final.

The singles event will take centre stage from Friday, May 19, as Nigeria’s duo of Fatimo Bello and Rilwan Akanbi defend their titles against other players from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Togo and Burkina Faso.

Chidi Nwoke/ITTF-Africa.