Nigeria’s Funke Oshonaike made it to the main draw of the women’s singles of the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation World Championship taking place in China after beating Algeria’s Safa Saidani 4-3 (11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 12-10) yesterday to top her qualification group.
But the Nigerian faces the biggest test in her first match in the main draw as she
confronts top seed, Ding Ning, today which incidentally his birthday. Similarly, Segun Toriola who emerged top of his qualifying group, defeated Weber Lionel of Switzerland 5-2 (11-9,11-4,4-11,9- 11,11-8,4-11,11-3) in the round of 64 of the Men’s singles preround on Monday and he will face Madrid Marcos of Mexico in the round of 32. Kazeem Makanjuola was not so lucky; he came second in his group and could not make it to the pre-round after losing his second group game to Tabachnik Pablo 4-3. Oshonaike said her qualification into the main draw was fulfilling after sponsoring herself to the competition.
‘I am pleased to be China, now I have reached the main draw, it has been worthwhile,” she said. Toriola is still struggling with the time difference between China and and his base in Europe and stated that it was affecting his game. “My problem in this tournament has been timing because I have hardly slept owing to the time difference between my base in France and China; I hope to get used to things within a few days,” he said.
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