Offiong Edem loses to Brazilian Takahashi and retires

Nigerian tennis star Offiong Edem lost 4-0 to Brazilian Bruna Takahashi in the women’s singles round of 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday, July 28.

Edem’s defeat marks the third elimination of a Nigerian from a table tennis event after Quadri Aruna and Olajide Omotayo were eliminated in the men’s singles event on Saturday, July 27, crashing out of the multi-sport international tournament.

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In the men’s singles table tennis tournament, Aruna and Omotayo won one set each. However, in the women’s singles tournament, Takahashi dominated Edem and won in straight sets (11-8, 11-4, 13-11, 12-10).

Nigeria began the action in the table tennis tournament with Omotayo’s match against Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan. Despite winning the first set, Omotayo was defeated 4-1 as Iran recovered.

Following Omotayo’s exit, Aruna’s medal hopes rested with him, but despite a 3-0 lead he succumbed to the pressure and lost 4-3 to 19-year-old Romanian Eduard Ionescu.

Nigeria’s last representative in the table tennis event, Fatimo Bello, will compete tomorrow (Tuesday) against Jia Nan Yuan in the round of 16 of the women’s singles in her first Olympic Games.

By Dotun Omisakin

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