Nigeria lose to France in Paralympics’ table tennis team event

The pair of Ahmed Koleosho and Isau Ogunkunle on Tuesday failed to reach the semi-finals of their men’s team event of the table tennis competition at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

This was after the duo lost 0-2 to the French side in the quarter-finals of their men’s team Class 4 to 5 events of the table tennis competition.

In their fixture at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, the Nigerian pair lost 2-3 in their first game against the pair of Florian Merrien and Nicolas Savant.

The duo won the opening set 11-5, lost the next two 9-11 and 4-11 before winning the fourth set 11-7 to draw level for a 2-2 scoreline in the game.

But they could only fight in the final set, as they could not withstand their opponents’ grit to lose 10-12.

In the second game, which was a singles, the French side brought on Maxime Thomas who beat Koleosho 3-2.

It was a ding-dong affair, with Thomas winning 11-4, losing 11-13, before winning again 11-7.

After losing 8-11 in the fourth set, the Frenchman stood firm to win 11-4 in the final set.

It was reported that the 2-0 lead by France meant there was no need for the third game which would have paired Ogunkunle with Merrien.

The Nigerian team of Ogunkunle and Koleosho had in their round of 16 fixture earlier in the day beaten the Argentine team of Gabriel Copola and Mauro Depergola 2-1.

In their doubles game, they won 3-0 (11-3 13-11 11-7), while Copola beat Ogunkunle 3-1 (5-11 11-9 11-3 11-9) to draw the fixture level.

Koleosho went on to win the second singles 3-1 (11-3 5-11 13-11 11-5) against Depergola.

Reports state that the 2020 Paralympic Games will end on Sunday.