African table tennis stars secure tickets to Paris 2024 Olympics

Four of the six tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were secured on Friday, May 17, at the African Table Tennis Qualification Tournament taking place at the BK Arena in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

Over 50 players from 15 countries compete at the three-day qualification tournament hosted by the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation (RTTF).

It was Nigeria’s Offiong Edem that first secured her spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a pulsating 4-3 win over Tunisia’s Fadwa Garci in the semifinal of the continental qualification championships.

Edem, who will be attending her fifth Olympic Games after featuring at Athens 2004, London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020, had to raise her game to beat the Tunisian in an energy-sapping encounter at 11-9, 8-11, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8, and 11-6.

Cameroon’s Sarah Hannfou joined the league of players heading to Paris after another action-packed tie against Nigeria’s Fatimo Bello. The two-time Olympian lost the first game 1-11, but she restored parity in the second game with an 11-9 win. She continued her dominance with another 11-5, 11-9 to take a 3-1 lead. But the Nigerian stretched the match with a 10-12 win to put the encounter at 3-2. Hanffou did not want the Nigerian to make a comeback, and with the cheers from the spectators at the BK Arena, the Cameroonian sealed her place in Paris with an 11-7 win to complete a 4-2 win (1-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7) in the women’s singles.

In the men’s singles, Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo had an easy passage to Paris after a dominant 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7) win over Saheed Idowu of Congo Brazzaville. The 2019 African Games champion and tournament’s top seed will be making his second appearance at the Olympic Games after his maiden outing at Tokyo 2020.

Fabio Rakotoarimanana became the first Madagascan to qualify for the Olympic Games and beating Tunisia’s Wassim Essid 4-3 (13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9) in the second semifinal of the men’s singles at the qualifiers.

The remaining continental two slots will be contested by 12 players that made it to the quarterfinals of the first stage of qualification on Saturday, May 18.

Meanwhile, a satisfied President of the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation (RTTF), John Birungi, said he was happy that they were able to host the Olympic Qualification for the first time, while acknowledging the support of the Rwandan government.