Debutante Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi and 2018 silver medalist Faith Obazuaye yesterday secured their place in the semifinal of the para table tennis event of 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Ikpeoyi who is competing in women’s singles classes 3-5 finished second in Group 1 behind India’s flag of India’s Bhavina Patel who topped the group with three wins from three matches.
Ikpeoyi confirmed her place in the four after a pulsating last group match against Australia’s Daniela Di Toro on the centre court with the Nigerian dominating from the start to finish to end the tie at 3-1 (11-3, 14-16, 11-1, 11-4) to join the last four qualifiers in the event.
But it was the end of the road for Chinenye Obiora as she lost her second group match 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5) to exit the tournament.
Also, yesterday Obazuaye, a silver medalist in 2018 who is competing in the Women’s singles classes 6-10 played her best against Malaysia’s Gloria Wong Sze 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-9). The Nigerian finished second in Group 1 after losing to Australia’s Qian Yang 3—1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8) but she advanced to the semifinal alongside the Australian.
In the men’s singles classes 3-5, Nasiru Sule qualified to the semifinal after winning all his matches in Group I and Sule has been unbeaten in all his matches to hit the last four. He is expected to face the second placed player in Group 2 for the semifinal tie today.
Isau Ogunkunle, another Nigerian debutant at the Commonwealth Games has been unbeaten in Group 2 of the men’s singles Classes 3-5 and qualified for the semifinal where he is expected to face the second placed player in Group 1.
Tajudeen Agunbiade is the fifth Nigerian that also qualified to the semifinal in the men’s singles classes 8-10 as he finished second in Group I.
An elated Ikpeoyi told NationSport yesterday that she was excited about making the last four in her debut appearance at the games. “I am so excited that I could make the last four having lost one of my group matches to the Australian. I am happy and my target remains the gold medal,” she said.