Nigeria recorded differing fortunes across the two singles events on the Day One of the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Championships on Sunday in Budapest.
The 55th World Table Tennis Championships kicked off on Sunday in Budapest, Hungary with 564 players from 102 participating nations.
Top names in their respective men’s singles groups Olajide Omotayo and Segun Toriola struggled to find their ‘A game’, suffering defeat at the hands of Cyprus’ Marios Yiangou 3-4 (7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-1) and USA’s Victor Liu 1-4 (11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10) respectively.
However, in the other men’s singles Bode Abiodun gave his Latvian opponent no chance against him as he despatched Dainis Reinholds 4-0 (11-6,11-7,11-4,11-4).
In the women’s singles, there were reasons for Nigeria to celebrate as Funke Oshonaike defeated her opponent from Ecuador, Mylena Plaza 4-1 (11-6,5-11,11-3,11-8,11-4) while Offiong Edem also beat Latvia’s Natalija Klimanova 4-1 (11-6,3-11,11-3,12-10,11-4).
Meanwhile, Ajoke Ojomu came from a set down to beat Luxembourg’s Sarah Meyer 4-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5) on her world championship debut.
Bode Abiodun and Offiong Edem partnered in the Mixed doubles and lost 4-1 (11-9,4-11,6-11,3-11) to Serbia’s duo of Zsolt Peto and Andrea Todorovic.
Matches continue on Monday in the group qualifications and doubles.
