For the first time in the history of the African Games, Egypt and Congo Brazzaville toppled Nigeria in the table tennis event of the championship with Egypt’s Omar Assar retaining the men’s singles title just as Dina Meshref dethroned Nigeria’s Edem Offiong to win the women’s singles title.
From the seven gold medals at stake in the event, Egypt and Congo Brazzaville won three gold medals each while Nigeria claimed one.
To hold on to his laurel, Assar defeated his arch-rival, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri 4-1 to be crowned the champion, while Meshref who had beaten defending champion, Nigeria’s Offiong in the quarterfinal overwhelmed her compatriot, Nadeen El-Dawlatly 4-1 to become the first Egyptian to win the women’s singles title at the games.
“I still can’t believe that I won. I am very happy and proud that for the first time an Egyptian is winning the women’s singles title and that we were able to defend our team title as well. This shows that there is progress because we really worked hard for this. I am very happy with my performance this year and I am also thankful to God that when you work hard there is result. This will surely motivate me to continue to work hard to win more laurels,” said Meshref.
Despite winning the men’s singles title, Assar is not satisfied after losing the men’s team title to Nigeria. “I am really happy that I won because there has been a lot of pressure on us to win medals. We had to wait till the last day to win gold medals because the pressure was really much on us. Aruna played well but I was really determined to win and I think I deserve the victory. But I am still disappointed that we lost the men’s team title having led 2-1 only to lose to Segun Toriola, who played very well. It was indeed painful losing the men’s title but in all I am happy that I have been able to defend my title in this competition,” Assar said.