AFRICA’S table tennis powerhouse, Nigeria, snatched a third ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the final of the second stage of the African Olympic Qualification Tournament on Saturday May18, at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
Fatimo Bello snapped up the ticket for Nigeria by defeating Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi 4-2 on the day the final two tickets for the Paris Games were up for grabs.
Bello failed to qualify through the first stage of qualifiers after losing 4-1 to Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou. However, the Nigerian returned stronger to win the sole slot in the second stage of qualifiers in the women’s singles. With this triumph, Bello joins her compatriots Olajide Omotayo and Offiong Edem on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games train.
Also, Algeria’s Mehdi Bouloussa who missed out from the first stage of the qualifers atoned for his defeat to pick the last slot in the men’s singles of the qualification tournament.
Bouloussa, who narrowly lost 3-4 to Wassim Essid of Tunisia in the quarterfinal round of the first stage, returned to winning ways to pick the final ticket in the men’s singles of the qualification tournament.
To win the second stage of the qualifiers, Bouloussa defeated Saheed Idowu of Congo Brazzaville. (16-14, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4) and picked his maiden ticket to the Olympic Games. A delighted Bouloussa described his qualification as the result of years of hardwork.
To recap, the Paris-bound African players from the Kigali qualifiers are the Nigerian trio of Bello, Omotayo and Edem, Cameroon’s Haffou, Bouloussa of Algeria and Fabio Rakotoarimanana, who became the first Madagascan table tennis player to qualify for the Olympic Games after picking the second slot in the first stage of the qualifiers.
Over 50 players from 14 countries featured in the three-day African Qualification Tournament hosted by the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation (RTTF).
