Bunmi Ogunyale
Nigeria’s veterans; Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike would aim at picking the Tokyo Olympics ticket when the singles and mixed doubles qualification event scheduled for February 27 to 29 kicks off in Tunisia.
Eight players made up of four men and four women in singles including one mixed doubles pair will qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tunisia.
Already, Egypt as African champions in men and women team event had picked the African sole slot in team event, while two men and two women from the Egyptian team will feature in the singles event of Tokyo 2020.
Nigeria’s duo of Toriola and Oshonaike would be eyeing history, as Toriola would be aiming for eighth Olympics appearance, as the first African athlete, while Oshonaike would be targeting seventh outing as the first African female player.
Each national association is expected to present two players each in the singles event of men and women and one team in the mixed doubles event
Topping the list of the field of men’s singles heading to Tunis is Africa’s number one ranked player, Aruna Quadri of Nigeria, as well as his compatriot – Olajide Omotayo. Others listed for the men’s singles event are: Gedeon Kassa and Diawaku Diamuangana (Congo DRC), Habeb Alajaebi and Salh Abodib (Libya), Ibrahima Diaw and Hamidou Sow (Senegal), Derek Abrefa and Emmanuel Commey (Ghana), Ahmed Djamal (Djibouti), Kizito Oba Oba and Kanate Ali (Cote d’Ivoire), Dodji Kokou Fanny and Mawussi Agbetoglo (Togo), Saheed Idowu and Christ Bienatiki (Congo Brazzaville), Adam Hmam and Kerem Ben Yahia (Tunisia), Sami Kherouf and Larbi Bouriah (Algeria), Brian Mutua and Josiah Wandera (Kenya), Godfrey Sultan (Seychelles), Monday Olabiyi (Benin Republic), Jonathan Nativel and Stephen Ravonison (Madagascar).
