Source: ChannelsNEWS
Africa’s impressive table tennis teams – Nigeria and Egypt have been beaten by India at the ongoing ITTF World Team Tournament in Malaysia and will miss out from gaining promotion to the Championship Division.
Nigeria and Egypt were unbeaten in the group stages winning all their five matches to top Group F and H respectively to make it the quarterfinal stage, but the two teams were beaten by India in the quarterfinal and semi-final stages of the competition.
Despite beating India 3-0 in the group round, Nigeria met a strong Indian team in the quarterfinal as Nigeria’s trio of Aruna Quadri, Segun Toriola and Bode Abiodun lost to a formidable Asian side led by their talisman, Sharath Achanta.
Despite losing the first two games against Gosh Soumyajit, Aruna Quadri levelled up to win 3-2 and this gave Nigeria a 1-0 lead but Achanta leveled up with a 3-0 win over Segun Toriola. Bode Abiodun put Nigeria ahead again with a 3-1 win over Harmeet Desai to put the encounter at 2-1 in favour of Nigeria.
The battle for supremacy now turned to Achanta and Aruna Quadri but experience prevailed over youthfulness as Achanta defeated Quadri 3-1 to put the match at 2-2.
Ironically, youthfulness overcame experience when Gosh Soumyajit and Segun Toriola clashed in the fifth match with Gosh Soumyajit winning 3-0 to give India the unexpected victory against Nigeria.
Unlike the battle they faced to beat Nigeria 3-2, India had an easy win over Egypt in the semi-final with Achanta being the architect of the victory.
In the first game, Omar Assar ran over Gosh Soumyajit with a 3-0 victory but Achanta as usual restored parity with a 3-0 win over Mohammed El-Beiali in the second match.
What was expected to be an easy ride for Egypt in the third match became their undoing as Harmeet Desai demystified El-Sayed Lashin 3-1 to puncture the confidence of the Egyptian.
What really made the match out of the reach of Egyptian was the manner in which Achanta easily swept aside Omar Assar with a 3-0 bashing to stop any African team from making it to the elite division of the competition in 2018 in Sweden.
Congo Brazzaville failed to gain promotion to division two and will campaign in same division in 2018 while Togo and Tunisia still maintained their status in division four.
Africa’s impressive table tennis teams – Nigeria and Egypt have been beaten by India at the ongoing ITTF World Team Tournament in Malaysia and will miss out from gaining promotion to the Championship Division.
Nigeria and Egypt were unbeaten in the group stages winning all their five matches to top Group F and H respectively to make it the quarterfinal stage, but the two teams were beaten by India in the quarterfinal and semi-final stages of the competition.
Despite beating India 3-0 in the group round, Nigeria met a strong Indian team in the quarterfinal as Nigeria’s trio of Aruna Quadri, Segun Toriola and Bode Abiodun lost to a formidable Asian side led by their talisman, Sharath Achanta.
Despite losing the first two games against Gosh Soumyajit, Aruna Quadri levelled up to win 3-2 and this gave Nigeria a 1-0 lead but Achanta leveled up with a 3-0 win over Segun Toriola. Bode Abiodun put Nigeria ahead again with a 3-1 win over Harmeet Desai to put the encounter at 2-1 in favour of Nigeria.
The battle for supremacy now turned to Achanta and Aruna Quadri but experience prevailed over youthfulness as Achanta defeated Quadri 3-1 to put the match at 2-2.
Ironically, youthfulness overcame experience when Gosh Soumyajit and Segun Toriola clashed in the fifth match with Gosh Soumyajit winning 3-0 to give India the unexpected victory against Nigeria.
Unlike the battle they faced to beat Nigeria 3-2, India had an easy win over Egypt in the semi-final with Achanta being the architect of the victory.
In the first game, Omar Assar ran over Gosh Soumyajit with a 3-0 victory but Achanta as usual restored parity with a 3-0 win over Mohammed El-Beiali in the second match.
What was expected to be an easy ride for Egypt in the third match became their undoing as Harmeet Desai demystified El-Sayed Lashin 3-1 to puncture the confidence of the Egyptian.
What really made the match out of the reach of Egyptian was the manner in which Achanta easily swept aside Omar Assar with a 3-0 bashing to stop any African team from making it to the elite division of the competition in 2018 in Sweden.
Congo Brazzaville failed to gain promotion to division two and will campaign in same division in 2018 while Togo and Tunisia still maintained their status in division four.
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