Omotayo knocked out of World Table Tennis tournament

Nigeria’s Olympic Games Table Tennis hopeful, Olajide Omotayo, ranked 92 in the world, suffered an early defeat from the World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East Hub taking place in Doha, Qatar.

Omotayo was knocked out in the second stage of the preliminary round by Sweden’s Anton Kallberg 3-2 (11-8, 11-3, 11-9, 11-7,11-7).

The 25-year-old, however, set an African record as the first player from the continent to win a match at the new WTT tournament after beating Kazakhstan’s Alan Kurmangaliyev in the first stage of the preliminary round.

Reacting after his exit, Omotayo said the tournament was an eye-opener which will help him improve his game

“It was not easy after a year of not playing any official match but I am happy with my performance. All I need to do now is to concentrate on what I did not do right and try to improve that aspect.

“With this tournament I gained more confidence going into the next tournament. I hope to watch more matches of top players in readiness for another tournament later this week in Doha,” Omotayo said.

It has been a tournament of shocks.

Egypt’s top-rated duo of Omar Assar [41] and Ahmed Saleh [50] were knocked out from the second preliminary stage by their European counterparts.

Aruna Quadri [21] in the men’s draw and Dina Meshref [35] in the women’s draw will be flying the African flag at the main draw which serves off on Wednesday.

The $200,000 prize-money tournament is the first official WTT event with 298 players from 66 countries taking part

Meanwhile, the Nigerian trio of Omotayo, Funke Oshonaike, and Offiong Edem have booked a place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics coming up later this year