Despite an early exit in the mixed and doubles events at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, national para table tennis coach Nasiru Sule remains optimistic.
He believes the setback will not demoralize the team as they prepare for the singles events.
With the draws for the singles events set to be concluded on Friday, August 31, Sule is confident that the team can still fulfill their potentials in Paris.
In the round of 32 of the Mixed Doubles, Kayode Alabi and Faith Obazuaye lost 3-1 to Great Britain’s Joshua Stacey and Bly Twomey.
Additionally, Alabi and Victor Farinloye were defeated 3-0 by China’s Huang Jiaxin and Peng Weinan in the round of 16 of the Men’s Doubles.
Despite these losses, Sule insists they are still in the race for medals in the singles events.
“I knew it was not going to be easy in the Mixed and Doubles events because our opponents are very strong. We wanted to test our strength against them, but unfortunately, they were ahead of us.
“This will not demoralize us because we still have eight singles matches ahead of us. We are not giving up; we may be down, but we are not out of the medal race in Paris,” said the Atlanta 1996 bronze medalist.