Egyptian Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi congratulated the Egyptian table tennis team that snatched the gold medal of the 2021 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)’s African Championships, hosted by Cameroon.
The national players won both men’s and women’s team titles as both finals at Versatile Sports Palace in the Cameroonian capital pitted Egypt against Nigeria.
Winning the tournament, Egypt tops the African table tennis rankings with 13 titles; ahead of Nigeria with 11 titles.
Egypt won both the men’s and women’s team titles at the 2021 ITTF African Championships held in Yaounde.
Success for the men meant they regained the title surrendered three years ago to Nigeria in Port Louis, the capital at Mauritius, for the women it was successful retention.
Facing Nigeria in both finals, the men required the full five matches to secure victory, for the women it was success without a blemish.
The player to cause the Egyptian men problems was Quadri Aruna. He beat both Ahmed Ali Saleh (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9) and Omar Assar (8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9).
However, that was the sum total of Nigerian success, Olijide Omotayo lost to both Omar Assar (9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7) and to Ahmed Ali Saleh (11-6, 11-2, 11-5); crucially in the third match of the fixture, Mohamed El-Beiali withstood a brave recovery by Bode Abiodun to seal victory (11-7, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9).
Earlier at the semi-final stage, no changes to the selections, Egypt had recorded a 3-0 win against Togo represented by Mawussi Agbetoglo, Kokou Dodji Fanny and Fessou Lawson-Gaizer; by the same margin Nigeria had accounted for Algeria’s Larbi Bouriah, Sami Kherouf and Mohamed Sofiène Boudjada.
In the women’s team final, Egypt showed no charity.
Hana Goda overcame Offiong Edem (11-8, 13-15, 11-5, 11-6) to be followed by Dina Meshref who accounted for Cecilia Akpan (11-2, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6) and Mariam Alhodaby who prevailed against Olufunke Oshonaike (6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4) to conclude matters.
“I cannot say our win over Nigeria was easy because of the 3-0 victory. Every match was tough, and the scores were close. I am happy and proud of Hana Goda with her performance; she showed her quality against the best.” Egypt’s player Dina Meshref said.
In the penultimate round with Yousra Helmy preferred to Mariam Alhodaby, Egypt had posted a 3-0 win against the Tunisian trio formed by Maram Zoghlami, Fadwa Garci and Habir Haj Salah.
Likewise, by the same margin, selecting the same trio as in the final, Nigeria had overcome the Mauritius combination of Oumehani Hosenally, Ashfany Hosenally and Nandeshwaree Jalim
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