Nigeria's Table Tennis team back from Morocco

Nigeria's table tennis team flew into Lagos on Tuesday morning from the Moroccan capital, Rabat. The players subsequently departed for their respective bases in the country, except for Africa's former number one player, Segun Toriola, who has since returned to his base in Italy.

While in the North African country, the Nigerian team consisting of five men and five women, as well as their coaches participated in both the African Seniors Cup and the African Youth Championships.

In the African Youth Championships, which took place between July 11-14, the Nigerian team of Quadri Aruna, Ojo Onaolapo, Ganiyu Ashimiyu, Janet Effiom, Ganiyat Olatunde and Olufunke Hassan were unable to win any of the events competed for and ended up in a disappointing fourth position behind eventual winners Egypt, second-placed Congo and third-placed Tunisia.

With just two silver medals won in the Youth Men's Team and Mixed Doubles events, and an equal number of bronze medals achieved in the Men's Singles and Mixed Doubles events, the Nigerian team's medals haul were a far cry from the six gold, one silver and four bronze medals secured by the Egyptians who heavily relied on the impressive duo of 17-year-old, Omar Assar, and 15-year-old Dina Meshref. Assar won four gold medals including the Men's Singles gold.

The Nigerian team however made up for their disappointing outing in the Youth Championships with a commendable performance in the Senior's Cup where Aruna joined up with the quartet of Segun Toriola, Seun Ajetunmobi, Offiong Edem and Olaide Atinuke in the tournament which ran from July 15-16.

And 20-year-old Aruna made up for his disappointing performance in the Youth Championships, where he lost in the last 16 to Saheed Idowu of Congo, with a five star display in the more illustrious senior event to help the Nigerian team maintain its status as Africa's top side with a first place finish on the overall medals table with three medals - a gold, silver and bronze respectively.

The player did it in style by winning eight of his nine matches to take home the Men's Singles title and the tournament's $1,000 star prize. He will also represent Africa at the Liebherr Men's World Cup in Moscow, Russia from 16th to 18th October 2009.

Aruna's performance may have come as a surprise to many followers of the sport in Nigeria but not national table tennis coach Babatunde Obisanya who expects more in the foreseeable future from the enterprising youngster.

"The table tennis federation has made it a habit of including one or two junior players in the senior team to give these young players the required experience for the future and we are now reaping the result of that experiment," explained the veteran coach.

"Aruna's victory didn't come as a surprise to me because he has always shown he had a great deal of potential in him. He is definitely a player for the future and I hope he does well at the World Cup," added Obisanya who was not in Rabat with the rest of the Nigerian team.

Twenty-two year-old Edem however failed in her bid to secure the Women's Singles title as she finished in second place behind Congo's Chinese-born representative Han Xing who will now fly the continent's flag at the Volkswagen Women's World Cup which takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 6th to 8th September 2009.