WTT Lagos Contender: Nigerians Oyeniyi, Oloruntade Crash Out
Nigerian table tennis players Kehinde Oyeniyi and Adeola Oloruntade have crashed out of the ongoing World Table Tennis (WTT) Lagos Contender Series, taking place at the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Serbia’s Izebela Lupulesku claimed a 3-0 win over Oyeniyi in the best-of-five games of the qualifying round 2 of the women’s singles. The Nigerian noted that this was her first experience playing at an international game. She said that she would learn from the experience while making good use of all she had learnt.
“This is my first time playing in this kind of competition. I am very excited,” Oyeniyi said. “When I was playing, I noticed some of my mistakes that I need to correct and this means I will need to put in more work.”
Lupulesku in her excitement said she was tensed at the beginning of the match. She said first matches were usually tough because opponents could not be predicted.
“It is my first time in Nigeria as I was recently in Durban, South Africa, for the World Championships. I had also visited Cape Town as well,” Lupulesku said after the match.
“Before the match I was a bit stressed because the first match is always very difficult and playing against a Nigerian player as the fans were supporting her. I was a bit under pressure but as the match progressed, I felt better to win the match.
“I love playing in this kind of atmosphere and I look forward to my next match,” she added
Jules Rolland 3-0 Adeola Oloruntade
In another thrilling encounter, Jules Rolland of France defeated Nigeria’s Adeola Oloruntade 3-0 in the qualifying round 2 of the men’s singles.
Rolland said the fans supported the Nigerian player and that made him tensed at the beginning of the match.
“Playing here is very different because people are always supporting players from Nigeria and they are like 100 per cent behind them,” Rolland said.
“So, when I played my first match against a Nigerian player, it was very difficult because I was not playing only against my opponent but against all the people in the hall. It was very difficult, but I managed to play well in this match. So, I’m happy,” he added
The WTT Contender series holds from June 12th – 18th, 2023.
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