Egypt’s Dina Meshref became the first Egyptian to win the women’s singles title at the African Games back-to-back for the first time after beating Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou 4-0 in the final.
Seeded number one in the women’s singles, Meshref played most of her matches with ease to become the best female player in the continent.
To beat Hanffou, who had earlier edged out Nigeria’s Edem Offiong in semifinal, Meshref took charge from the start and controlled the match to end at 11-7, 11-4, 11-2, 11-7 to the admiration of the Egyptian fans.
A satisfied Meshref said she was happy becoming the first female Egyptian to set a new feat in table tennis.
“I am so happy becoming the first female Egyptian to win the women singles title back-to-back for the first time. But I must admit that it was not easy at all because the four years difference between the two titles was very long for me to be able to keep up with my performance. I am so excited that I was able to retain the title again,” Meshref said.
She added: “It was a bit easy for me winning the title this year because in 2015, I had to play against some Chinese players from Congo Brazzaville and I also confronted Edem Offiong of Nigeria in the quarterfinal stage. There was also a lot of pressure on me then because it was then the qualification for the Olympic Games. So this year, I played with less pressure and I had a good draw to the final.”