Nigeria have booked their place in the round of 16 following their second place finish in the Men’s Division Two Group F at the Liebherr 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships on Wednesday in Sweden.
Nigeria dispatched 6th placed Australian team 3-0 in the last group game to book a round of 16 clash with Group H third ranked team, Spain.
Quadri Aruna started with a 3-0 win over Benjamin Gould to take Nigeria 1-0 up over Australia. Quadri won the match 11-5, 11-9, 11-7. Bode Abiodun who sat out in the last two games, extended Nigeria’s lead with a 3-0 ( 12-10, 11-2, 11-9) win over Kane Townsend. Olajide Omotayo wrapped it up in 5 games not without dropping the second and third game to his Australian opponent, Rohan Ohooria. He eventually gained momentum to seal the victory at 3-2 ( 11-6, 11-13, 12-14, 11-8, 11-3).
Nigeria finished second in Group F, four wins from five games and will play against Spain who won three of five games in Group H. If Nigeria successfully go past the Spanish team, they will take on Slovakia who inflicted on them their only loss in the group stage.
Teams through to the round of 16 according to their group ranking include:
Group E- Ukraine, Denmark, Netherlands
Group F- Slovakia, Nigeria, Argentina
Group G- Italy, Hungary, Greece
Group H- Iran, USA, Spain
Teams that qualify for the final of Division Two event will be promoted to the championship stage, which is the top tier of the World Team event.
Meanwhile, Busan, Korea will host the 2020 World Table Tennis Championships. It’s the first time ever Korea will host the biennial event.
