Egypt picked Tokyo 2020 Olympic ticket at the expense of their rival Nigeria in the women’s table tennis category at the ongoing 12 African Games in Morocco on Friday.
After losing the first two sets, the Nigeria women came back to level the scores at 2-2, but the Egyptians led by African women number one Dina Meshref won the fifth set to pick the gold medal and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games ticket in the team event of the 12th African Games holding in Rabat, Morocco, leaving Edem Offiong and Olufunke Oshonaike to the Silver medal.
The loss means that Nigeria regular Olympian Olufunke Oshonaike won’t be on the plane to the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
Meanwhile, An excited Meshref who also won the ITTF African Cup in Lagos said her team are excited about their feat in Rabat.
”We are so excited about winning the gold medal and most especially qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. We really prepared for this match and we knew it was going to be tough even when we were leading 2-0.”
“We had thought we could the match at 3-0 but we had to fight till the end. Nigeria team is not a pushover and we prepared very well for this kind of match because we had expected it. I am so happy that we have now secured our place in Tokyo.”
