Nigeria qualifies for main draw of table tennis

Nigeria became one of the top seeded teams that made it on the first day to the main draw of the men’s team event at the ongoing 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games holding in Australia.

Despite the absence of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola, the trio of Bode Abiodun, Olajide Omotayo and Jamiu Azeez braved the odds to book their places in the main draw (round of 16) of the team event.

However as top spots were secured there were nervous moments, especially for Australia and Nigeria.

Australia beat Scotland 3-0 but the score-line did not reflect the nature of the contest; the duel kept the locals on the edges of their seats.

Yan Xin gave Australia the ideal start by beating Craig Howieson in a full distance five games duel (11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-13, 11-7), a contest in which the Scotsman recovered time and time again. It was the same in the engagement between Heming Hu and Gavin Rumgay. Recovery after recovery, match points saved in the fourth game before eventually Heming Hu prevailed (11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8).

Two wins by narrow margins, it gave the doubles partnership of Heming Hu and David Powell a cushion; David Powell secure, Heming Hu confident after his singles win, a straight games success was recorded against Craig Howieson and Colin Dalgleish (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6).

Nervous moments for Australia, it was the same for Nigeria against Malaysia; no Quadri Aruna nor Segun Toriola in the line-up, the mantle of responsibility fell on the shoulders of Olajide Omotayo, Bode Abiodun and Azeez Jamiu.

The Nigerians won the first two matches; Olajide Omotayo beat Chee Feng Leong (13-11, 15-13, 11-7), before Bode Abiodun accounted for Muhammed Ashraf Haiq Muhamad Rizal (11-5, 11-7, 13-11).

However, Chee Feng Leong and Javen Choong combined to secure the doubles; they accounted for Azeez Jamiu and Olajide Omotayo (11-4, 11-9, 11-7). Suddenly, there was a degree of pressure on Azeez Jamiu playing in his first Commonwealth Games; he responded, he won but it was tense. He needed the full five games to beat Muhammed Ashraf Haiq Muhamad Rizal (11-7, 9-11, 11.6, 7-11, 11-8).

“We lost the doubles, we never practised. I thought we would win, I never expected that I would need to play singles, I wasn’t prepared, I just kept fighting, serve short and be the first to attack.” Azeez Jamiu

Nervous moments but that was not the situation for India, Canada and England.

India beat Northern Ireland by three matches to nil, the same result as secured by England against Guyana and Singapore in opposition to Barbados.

The initial phase fixtures conclude on Friday 6th April.