Players Begin Quest For Table Tennis Olympics Slots In Africa

The jostle for the remaining four slots available for Africa at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil will commence on Tuesday February 16 in Khartoum, Sudan.
Two men and two women are expected to qualify for the Olympics at the Sudan tournament with all eyes on Nigeria’s Segun Toriola who is aiming for his seventh Olympics appearance in Rio.
The 42 year-old Nigerian finished third at the just concluded ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup and he will be joined in the race to Rio by Nigeria-born Congo Brazzaville’s Saka Suraju who is also his targeting his third appearance at the Olympics.
Since making his debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in Spain, Toriola has appeared at every Olympics till date with his best outing and best performance by an African being making it to the fourth round at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China.
In the women’s event, Nigeria’s Edem Offiong will be hoping to make her third appearance while Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou will be eyeing her second outing in Brazil.
Twenty-Eight athletes from Algeria, Ghana, Sudan, Libya, Madagascar, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo DRC, Burundi, Morocco, Tunisia and Kenya will compete for the two slots remaining for men in Africa while 16 will slug it out for the two slots in the women category.