Table Tennis: Nigerian Edem Wins Medal At African Games

Offiong Edem

Offiong Edem wins Nigeria's first medal in table tennis at the 13th African Games.

With 127 medals (46 gold, 33 silver, and 48 bronze), Team Nigeria placed second in the final medal standings for 2019.

Table tennis player Offiong Edem won a bronze medal in the women's singles competition, at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday.

Her achievement gives Nigeria its first medal in the competition's 25 sports categories.

Spanish-born Edem is a highly skilled player who showed promise during the elimination rounds.

However, her adventure came to an end in the semifinals when she faced Egypt's Dina Meshref, the reigning champion.

Meshref showed off her strength by easily defeating Edem 4-0.

Edem equaled her performance at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco, by winning a bronze medal, despite the setback.

Edem gave a retrospective on her performance and conveyed her appreciation for the following support:

“I am so happy that we were able to attend the last World Championships in Korea and this really helped my game a lot. I want to thank the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for their support and I believe attending such a competition really helped me personally here in Ghana.” Edem was cited on Sports Africana as saying.

Edem also recognized the strong presence of Egyptian athletes, crediting their accomplishments to their regular participation in international tournaments.

“The Egyptians are ahead because they compete more often than us,” she said. “We hope to receive similar support to regain our top position in African table tennis.”

Nigeria is off to a good start at the African Games with Edem's bronze medal; many anticipate more medals to trickle in once the Games begin on Friday.

Team Nigeria placed second on the final medal table with 127 medals (46 gold, 33 silver, and 48 bronze) from their contingent of 311 athletes at the 2019 African Games, which were held in Rabat, Morocco.

This time around, Team Nigeria will be hoping for a more fruitful experience in Ghana with a slightly larger delegation of 358 athletes.