From the available 14 Paralympic Games tickets at the ongoing ITTF Africa Para Championships, Nigeria is on the verge of beating host – Egypt to the highest number following the outcome of day one at the three-day qualifying tournament in Giza, Egypt.
In class nine and 10 of the women’s singles, Kehinde Lawal and Faith Obazuaye are just one match away from picking their tickets after beating all their opponents in the group matches of the tournament.
In Class nine, Lawal has three Egyptians to contend with in the class and she had defeated two of them remaining Nagwa Youssef whom she will face today to determine the sole qualifiers from the class
Obazuaye, 2022 Commonwealth Games medallist may be heading for her second Paralympic Games after beating all her opponents in class 10 as she needs another convincing win against Egypt’s Reda Abdelaal to be certain of joining the train to Paris in 2024.
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In the men’s singles, the top seeds have been unbeaten in all their matches, and they are all in pole position to pick their tickets but the battle for the sole ticket will be fierce in some classes as brothers may go up against each other in the deciding matches of the championships.
All eyes will be on class four where seven-time African champion Samed Eid-Saleh of Egypt battles for the sole slot against Commonwealth Games medallist Isau Ogunkunle of Nigeria.
Team Nigeria captain Tajudeen Agunbiade might face his compatriot Abiola Adesope in the decider in his quest to make a return to the Paralympic Games in class nine.
Olufemi Alabi played with a lot of confidence in Class 10 as he remains the player to beat in the class having played all his group matches with ease to advance to the deciding stage of the tournament.