Egypt continue to collect medals in the table tennis event of the 13th African Games as Yousssef Abdelaziz and Mariam Alhodaby won the fifth gold medals after defeating Algeria’s Stephane Ouaiche and Lucie Mobarek 3-0 to become the new mixed doubles champions. Nigeria missed out from the podium after losing in the quarterfinal of the mixed doubles event.
The Egyptians were dominant in the final, controlling the pace and tempo of the match, which led to their victory against their opponents.
However, they were not really tested on their way to the final as they dominated most of their opponents from round of 32 without dropping a set, winning all their matches at 3-0.
The Egyptians are part of the gold medal-winning team and they have added another gold to the number of medals won by Egypt in the table tennis event of the multi-sport championships.
An elated Abdelaziz described the victory as inspiring despite featuring in their first senior tournament as partner for the first time. “We actually played together eight years ago and today, we have won our first title as partners,” he said.
Alhodaby described the tournament as a good experience for them, adding that they are excited about increasing the medal haul of Egypt in the table tennis event. “We actually knew that the final might be difficult so we prepared very well but we might have won all our matches 3-0 but there was no easy match in the tournament. We are happy we won and we look forward to more medals in the doubles event,” Alhodaby said.
For the Algerian duo of Ouaiche and Mobarek who are making their debut in the tournament, the silver added to the bronze they claimed in the team event.
From the five events so far concluded in the table tennis event, Egypt has claimed all the gold medals including silver and bronze in the singles as well as a bronze in the mixed doubles to dominate the tournament this year.
Nigeria still maintains its second place with three silver and a bronze medal to show for their efforts.
Algeria are third with one silver and two bronze medals while Tunisia has two bronze medals. South Africa has also won a medal in the women’s team event.
