Tennis: Nigeria starts on winning note in Malaysia

Nigeria men’s table tennis team, playing in the second division of the world championship, boosted their chances of making in to the elite division by beating Turkey 3-0 in their first game in Malaysia.

It was Nigeria who paved the way for Egypt when earlier in the day, they rattled Turkey with an emphatic 3-0 win with veteran Segun Toriola joining forces with Quadri Aruna and Bode Abiodun.

Later in the day, Egypt showed their class against Mexico when Omar Assar, Mohammed El-Beiali and El-Sayed Lashin whitewashed their Mexican counterparts with a 3-0 bashing.

Read also: AAG: Nigeria win gold, silver in Table Tennis

The Egyptian ladies made it a double header for the North African as they also pummelled Switzerland 3-0 to put their ambition of gaining promotion to the elite division on track.

Speaking after the victory against Turkey, Nigeria’s Bode Abiodun said: “I was a bit nervous when I started the game having flown for hours from Portugal. But as the game progressed, I got my rhythm to win convincingly against the Turkish. We are a strong side and I believe in my teammates that we can gain promotion to the Championship division. We are not bothered about the pedigree of our opponents and we are not going to play to the gallery against any team because the teams in the group are very strong.”

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