Day one of the World Table Tennis Contender Lagos was action-packed at the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas indoor sports facility at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
The qualification series, which began at about 11 a.m. Monday, had about 26 matches on four tables. There were 25 singles duels in both the male and female categories, and a female doubles game, in which the Nigerian duo of Abosede Esther Akinsete and Sukurat Aiyelbegan triumphed over the Ghanaian duo of Hilda Agbottah and Agnes Coleman, in three straight sets of 11-5, 11-4, and 11-6.
One noticeable disappointment was that no Nigerian player qualified through the first round of singles qualification. However, they were involved in seven singles matches despite signs of improvement in their games. It seemed like just too big a task. The best efforts came from 17-year-old Muiz Adegoke, who lost 2-3 (11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 4-11) in an exhilarating game against the No. 220-ranked Sanil Shetty of India.
