Nigeria’s deputy captain, Matthew Kuti, and teammate Favour Ojo played their final matches in the table tennis event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal after losing their respective final preliminary-round fixtures.
Earlier in the day, Ojo was defeated by her Hong Kong counterpart, suffering her third loss in a group of four players. Only the top two players in each group advanced to the knockout stage.
Kuti, who was one victory away from securing a place in the men’s singles knockout stage, lost 0-3 to Italy’s Francesco Travesan, joining the list of African players eliminated in the opening round of the competition.
Of the 15 African players who began their quest for podium finishes in the table tennis event, only Algeria’s Tania Morice and Egypt’s Abdelmalk Elsayed remain in contention.
Both players will be aiming to match or surpass the quarter-final achievement recorded by Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
In the men’s singles, Algeria’s Aylan Goudjil, Benin Republic’s Ganiou Abdourahaman, Senegal’s Amador Ferrer, Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli, and Uganda’s Joseph Sebatindira were all eliminated in the preliminary round.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy, Ghana’s Joanita Borteye, Madagascar’s Tina Andriantahina, Senegal’s Marieme Diallo, Tunisia’s Ela Saidi, and Uganda’s Jemimah Nakawala have also exited the tournament following defeats in the preliminary stage.
Top Players Scramble to Qualify for ProvidusUnity Bank Tennis Masters
Top Nigerian senior tennis players excited about the impending debut of a year- end tournament, are now scrambling to attend the last three tournaments of the year in order to qualify for the prestigious and lucrative ProvidusUnity Bank Tennis Masters.
The tournament will feature eight men and women. Six will qualify based on their ranking on the Nigerian Tennis Federation ranking list, while the International Tennis Academy, organizers of the tournament will choose the two wild cards to make up the number.
Daniel Adeleye who was national No.1 in singles and doubles from 2024 to April 2026 is now ranked 14 because he spent more time trying to play ATP tournaments to get a world ranking.
“I was not planning to play the Dala Hard court in Kano this year,” he told the Masters Tournament organizers, “but because of this ProvidusUnity Bank Masters, I have bought my ticket for Kano and luckily we have the Destiny Da Silva tournament which will count for ranking before then. I will have to fight to qualify,” Adeleye said.
The ladies are not left out in the scramble. Bright Emmanuel, Favour Moses and Blessing Omotayo who are ranked seventh, eight and ninth respectively, said they have increased the intensity of their training to get into the top six..
Godwin Kienka, director of the international tennis Academy said one of the players being considered for a wild card is Seun Ogunsakin, who got to the semifinals of the junior Wimbledon event this year and won the ITF J200 tournament for 18s in Egypt in October.
With three tournaments – The Destiny Da Silva Championships, the Dala Hard Courts and the JIO Tennis Championships in Makurdi – coming up this last quarter, the ProvidusUnity Bank Masters will be a truly end of year and holiday event to take place in Lagos from Tuesday December 22 to Saturday December 26
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