Nigeria’s Offiong Edem on Monday succumbed 4-1 (15-13, 11-2, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6) to the firepower of Lily Zhang of U. S. in the second round of the table tennis women singles event of the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The match played at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym saw 24 year-old Edem, who is ranked number 121 in the world, take on a more experienced Zhang ranked 31 in the ITTF World rankings.
Edem had progressed to the second round after she thrashed her Hungarian opponent Dora Madarasz 4-1 in the preliminary round.
She won the toss to serve first in a best of seven second round game against Zhang and started off strong, taking the first four points, before finishing the set 15-13 after a long rally which included three game points.
However, a calmer Zhang slowly spinning the ball and moving around was able to dominate the next two sets 11-2, 11-2, only allowing four points between the second and third set combined.
It was a much tighter game in the fourth set as Offiong, a four-time Olympian, fought back well and came within just two points to tie the set. But Zhang proved too strong once again and took the set 11-8 for a 3-1 lead.
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