Nigerian Table Tennis Star Offiong Edem Exits Tokyo Olympics
Nigeria’s Offiong Edem is out of the women’s singles of the Table Tennis event at the Tokyo Olympics following a 1-4 (13-11,2-11,2-11,8-11,6-11) second round loss to Team USA’s Lily Zhang.
Despite a convincing 4-1 win over Dora Madarasz last weekend, Edem was coming up against a tougher opponent in Zhang who is ranked much higher.
Edem, 34, who recorded Nigeria’s only win so far in any event at the Olympics last Saturday, won the first game against the 3-time US champion and looked to cause an upset, but the American claimed the 4 remaining games.
Although Zhang easily won Games 2 and 3, the 4th Game could have gone either way as Edem was close to forcing a tie-break in the 4th Game. However, an unforced error saw her give up a point that would have put the Game at 10-9 with a chance to serve for 10-10.
Zhang knew anything could happen, and made use of a timeout to disrupt Edem’s rhythm.
With three matchpoints saved in the deciding set, turning it around and saving seven would have been nothing short of miraculous. Ultimately, Edem did not show up to be rolled over as she fought hard to give the 31st ranked American a match to remember.
Edem’s loss now leaves Quadri Aruna as the only Nigerian left in the Table Tennis event in Tokyo. Aruna has been seeded 15th and will play his first match early on Tuesday morning.
Chidi Nwoke/Making of Champions.
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