Nigeria’s U-19 team to the 2022 ITTF Africa Youth Championships secured a slot at the World Youth Championships after beating Egypt 3-1 in the final of the team event on Saturday.
The win helped Nigeria to halt the dominance of Egypt in the team events of the 2022 ITTF Africa Youth Championships, as Taiwo Mati became the hero for Nigeria at the expense of the North African.
The continental youth championships is making a return since the last edition held in Accra, Ghana in 2019 following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic with Tunis hosting some of the best youngsters in Africa.
According to the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), the tournament serves as qualifiers for the World Youth Championships taking place later in the year in the same venue in Tunisia.
On the final day of the team event, Egypt had dominated the girls’ U-19 and U-15 while the also avenged their group stage 3-1 loss to Nigeria as they were at their best against the trio of Matthew Kuti, Mustapha Mustapha and Musa Mustapha in the boys’ U-15 final.
In the boys’ U-15 final, Egyptian trio of Gaber Yassin, Abdelaal Anas and Elsayed Abdelmalk played their best game against the Nigerian youngsters as Yassin thwarted spirited effort by Kuti in the fourth game for the Egyptian side to claim a 3-1 win.
With three gold medals already in their kitty on the final day of the team event, Nigerian trio of Taiwo Mati, Boboye Samuel and Muiz Adegoke ensured that the Egyptian made a clean sweep with a convincing 3-1 win over the Egyptian.