March 05, (THEWILL) – Nigerian table tennis player, Offiong Edem, picked up a bronze medal in the women’s singles event at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday. Her bronze is Nigeria’s first medal so far across the 25 sports at the competition.
The Spain-based Edem reached the semi-finals by defeating Egyptian twins, Marwa and Mariam Alhodaby, in earlier rounds before falling 4-0 to defending champion, Dina Meshref of Egypt in the semi-finals.
Edem’s bronze medal equals her performance from the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco. After her semi-final loss, Edem said: “I am thankful we attended the last World Championships which helped my game. I appreciate the support from the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation.”
She admitted Egyptian players’ edge comes from their frequent international competition, stating: “The Egyptians are ahead because they compete more often than us. We hope for similar opportunities to regain our position in African table tennis.”
With Nigeria sending a 358-athlete delegation, slightly larger than the 311 that attended in 2019 when Nigeria finished second with 127 total medals, Edem’s bronze could be the start of more medals once other games begin on Friday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
