DESPITE not taking part in any competition in the last three months, Nigeria's Ojo Onaolapo, Akinwale Fagbamila and Olasunkanmi Oginni made the country proud at the just concluded International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Junior and Cadet Open in Tunisia.Onaolapo, whose pedigree in the game has continued to soar following his scintillating performance at the maiden 2010 World Youth Olympics in Singapore, made it to the last eight of the championship.The three-man team, led by Coach Dotun Omoniyi, made a meaningful impact with two of the players making their maiden appearance in an international competition.The team sponsored by the Ondo State government to the championship featured in the boys' singles, team and doubles events.Although they left Nigeria unannounced from their base in Akure, the Ondo State capital, but their excellent performance came to fore at the tournament as Onaolapo, was extended the full five games distance by homeboy, Tunisia's Karem Ben Yahya (10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9), while Egypt's Shady Magdy experienced problems in opposition to Swanny Albert of France but the young Egyptian won by five games (11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8).In the round of 16 match against Cote d'Ivoire's Djodjo Nkunda, Onaolapo overpowered the Ivorien 4-1 (11-7,3-11,7-11,7-11,9-11) to set up a quarterfinal clash against the competition's number one seed, Chinese Tapei Tzu-Hsiang Hung.Onaolapo's compatriots, Akinwale Fagbamila and Olasunkanmi Oginni, who were making their debut in an international championship, finished second in their various groups to make it to the round of 16.But Oginni met his waterloo in the knockout stage where he lost to France's Swanny Albert 4-1 (18-20,8-11,4-11,12-10,4-11,), while Fagbamila had a torrid time beating Egypt's Shady Magdy 4-3 (11-9,7-11,11-5,9-11,11-9,11-13,9-11)Though Onaolapo put up a good fight against the Hung but he narrowly lose to the top seed 4-0 (11-9,12-10,11-8,11-6), while Fagbamila fell to Chinese Taipei's Chia-Sheng Lee 4-0 (5-11,4-11,4-11,6-11).However, the pair of Oginni and Chinese Taipei's Huang Chien-Tu made it to the final of the doubles event in the cadet division. But they were humbled in the final by Egypt's duo of Ahmed Darbous and Aly Ghallab by 11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8.
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