Despite travelling from far, Congo Brazzaville’s duo of Saka Suraju and Han Xing nearly broke the heart of Nigerian fans in the mixed doubles event of the first Lagos International Table Tennis Classics. But their efforts failed to materialize as Nigeria’s pair of Segun Toriola and Edem Offiong turned the table against the Congolese to animate the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The Congolese players accounted for the exit of Nigerian players on their way to the final, but they met a stiff opposition when they confronted Toriola and Offiong in the final watched by officials of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) led by its president, Egypt’s Khaled El-Salhy.
To claim the title in the event, the Nigerians won 11-2, 10-12, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 to the admiration of the fans.
Also in the women’s doubles, Nigeria’s duo of Offiong and Cecilia Otu-Akpan overcame Congolese pair of Xing and Onyiyechi Nwachukwu 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7 to claim the laurel in the event.
In the junior’s mixed doubles, Nigeria dominated the event with the pair of Azeez Ogunlade and Ayo Udo beat Bolaji Shobayo and Bose Odusanya 11-9, 11-3, 6-11, 11-7, while in the girls’ Odusanya and Onyiyechi Mba defeated Esther Tosin Oribamise and Agnes Onoja 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6.
Speaking after the victory against the Congolese, Toriola said he never doubted their ability to beat their opponent, saying, “the match was expected to be tough.”
“I am happy that we did not disappoint the fans and we never doubted our ability as we knew our opponent very well. We just needed to calm the game and allow them to make their mistakes by capitalizing on this.
My partner and I knew ourselves very well even when it seems we were lossing, we never give up as we continue to dig deep. But we thank God that we won,” Toriola said.
