Commonwealth Games: Nigeria's Men Table Tennis Into Semifinals

Nigeria has secured qualification to the semi-finals of the men’s Table Tennis Team event at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the United Kingdom.

After a sluggish start at NEC Hall 3 on Sunday, an inspired Nigerian side, led by Quadri Aruna, bounced back to defeat Malaysia 3-2, booking a semi-final spot against India on Monday.

In the Doubles event, the duo of Javen Choong and Qi Shen beat Nigeria’s Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo 3-1  (6-11, 12-10, 12-10,11-7).

The singles event saw Malaysia’s Chee Feng Leong lose1-3 to Quadri Aruna (9 -11, 11-6, 5 -11 and 5-11) while Abiodun lost 0-3 to Qi Shen Wong. (10-12, 12 -14, 5-11)

In the third singles game, Leong lost 1-3  (8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 6-11) to Omotayo while the last game also saw Jave Choong succumb to Aruna 1-3 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11).

Meanwhile, Edidiong Umoafia clinched a bronze medal for Nigeria in the men’s 67kg Weightlifting event earlier in the day.

Umoafia lifted a combined 290kg in the “Snatch’’ as well as “Clean and Jerk’’ categories to get on the podium.

In the boxing event, Nigeria’s Adeyinka Benson defeated his Ghanaian opponent Abubakari Kwesi Quartey 3-2 in Round 16 of the men’s over 71kg-75kg Middleweight category.

Benson has progressed to the quarterfinals.