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World Table Tennis: Nigeria beat Slovakia to maintain lead
In from Ripples Nigeria . . .
Nigeria men’s team won their fourth consecutive match in the on-going International Table Tennis Federation World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after defeating Slovakia 3-1 on Tuesday.
The team started the day’s proceedings as Group F leader and did not disappoint as Segun Toriola opened the floor with a 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-9) victory over Pistej Lubomi.
In the second match, Aruna Quadri came back from one set down to claim a 3-1 (11-6, 8-11, 6 11-3,-11) victory over Sereda Peter.
The Slovaks who are ranked 25th in the woprld, seven places more than Nigeria bounced back as Keinath Thomas defeated Bode Abiodun 3-1 ( 11-8, 11-9, 13-15, 11-6) but Aruna returned to the table to take the game beyond their European opponents with a 3-2 (8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11) win over Pistej .
Read also: Tennis: Nigeria starts on winning note in Malaysia
Nigeria will face Vietnam in their last group game and a victory over the struggling Asians means the Africans would progress to the quarterfinal of the competition.
The Toriola-led team masterminds the biggest upset in the second division of the tournament when they defeated higher ranked India ON Monday, a victory the 41-year-old still relish.
He said that Aruna’s victory in the opening game against the Indians was key to their success.
“We knew before the match that it was going to be very difficult; I told Aruna, not to allow Ghosh Soumyajit to play his game so that he can start the attack. I believe this first win really helped our confidence,” he said.
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