African table tennis heavyweights – Nigeria and Egypt are still searching for their first win at the ongoing ITTF World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) taking place in Busan, South Korea.
Following the walkover of the Nigerian men’s team by Japan following the absence of Quadri Aruna and late arrival of Bode Abiodun, Nigeria on Saturday, February 17 suffered a 3-0 defeat against Chinese Taipei while Egypt were beaten 3-0 by Romania in their first group match.
Algerian teams (men and women) suffered another defeat against France while South African ladies were no match to their Brazilian counterparts in their second match of the group.
The Nigerian women’s team lost their second group match against Slovakia while they were expected to take on Germany on Sunday, February 18.
In their quest to record their first group, the Nigerian men’s team will take on their African counterpart – Madagascar in what promises to be brother-against-brother.
Egypt’s search for their first win will pit them against Portugal in their second group match while Algeria will rest in readiness for their tie against Denmark on Monday, February 19.
Olajide Omotayo described the absence of Aruna as a major set-back to the team while still nursing the ambition of advancing from the group.
“It was very bad that we lost gallantly against Chinese Taipei, but sports can be like this sometimes and my partner just arrived in Korea so he’s a bit tired. Also, our key player is not here, and we can’t win every time. We’ll fight for the next match. Chinese Taipei has very good and strong teams, and they have more experience and play really well. For the next match, we need to go to sleep because I haven’t slept since I got to Korea,” the 2019 African Games champion said.