The trio of Offiong Edem, Fatimo Bello and Jide Omotayo have been commended for qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.
The commendation was made by the President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) Ishaku Tikon while expressing his Joy over the players qualification.
Tikon who is also the 2nd Vice President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), said the trio are among the best table tennis players Nigeria can boast of as at today hence their qualification did not come to him as a surprise.
He described their well deserved victory in Kigali, Rwanda, a testimony of hardwork, determination, perseverance and resilience, that showed that they were really hungry for it.
It would be recalled that Offiong Edem, Fatima Bello and Jide Omotayo picked their Paris 2024 Olympic Games tickets at the last window of the African Table Tennis Qualifiers held at the BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda that ended at the weekend.
With Edem and Omotayo picking their tickets on the first stage of the tournament, the story was not the same in the case of Bello who had to wait till the second stage before gaining her ticket.
She outclassed Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi 4-2 to claim her ticket having failed to qualify at the first stage following her lost to Sarah Hanffou of Cameroon.
She came back stronger in the second and final stage of the women singles qualifiers to pick the sole ticket thus joining Edem and Omotayo on the train to Paris Games.