Edem wins Team Nigeria’s first medal at African Games

Offiong Edem

Second batch of athletes arrives Accra

Veteran table tennis star, Offiong Edem, yesterday, became Nigeria’s first athlete to earn a medal at the 13th African Games by finishing third in the women’s singles of the event holding at the Accra International Conference Centre.

The Spain-based star played her best matches in the last 16 and quarterfinal when she defeated the Alhodaby twins – Marwa and Mariam to join the league of medalists in the women’s singles of the games.

Set up against defending champion, Dina Meshref of Egypt in the semifinal, Edem caved in to a 0-4 defeat to settle for a bronze medal, just as she did at the 2019 edition in Rabat, Morocco.

“I am so happy that we were able to attend the last World Championships in Korea, which helped my game. I want to thank the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for their support, and I believe attending such a competition helped me personally here in Ghana.

“The Egyptians are ahead of us because they attend more competitions than us and we hope we can get such support to return to the top of the game in Africa,” she said.

Meanwhile, the second batch of Team Nigeria’s contingent to the Games arrived in Accra, Ghana, yesterday. The first batch, which had badminton and table tennis players and their officials, had left on Monday.

Though the Games will officially begin on March 8 and run through March 23, some sporting events have already commenced. The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that the athletics team would be the last batch to leave for Ghana on March 11.

Sports Minister, John Owan Enoh, has assured Nigerians of the ministry’s readiness to compete clean at the Games and come back with a high number of laurels.

An official of the ministry told The