Africa’s Olympic appearance record holder, Segun Toriola, has crashed
out of the table tennis men’s singles event of the Rio Olympic Games
after losing to Japan’s Nowa Koki in the round two on Sunday.
The 41-year-old, who is appearing at his seventh consecutive Olympic
Games, lost 4-2 to the Japanese at the Riocentro Pavilion three.
Despite his exit, the world table tennis ruling body, the
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) plans to organise a
ceremony in Rio to honour the Nigerian for his Olympic feat after making
his seventh appearance at the Olympic Games being the first African to
achieve the feat.
Toriola who is ranked 120 in the world, had on Saturday August 6
bundled out Czech Republic’s Dimitrij Prokopcov in the first round.
Playing against a higher ranked Prokopcov in the first round of the
Men’s Singles event, the African legend pulled off an impressive
performance against his opponent with a 4-2 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11,
11-8, 11-8) win to end the Czech’s Olympic dream in Rio.
In the second round tie against the Japanese ranked 22 in the world,
Toriola put up a good fight as the young Asian was made to work hard for
his victory against the veteran.
To exit the competition, Toriola fell 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 11-4, 6-11, 1-11 (4-2) to the Japanese star.