Team Nigeria’s Faith Obiora is the last player standing in the Table Tennis event at the ongoing Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, after booking her spot in the quarterfinals, following her 3-2 victory over Taipei’s Mei-Hui Wei on Friday.
The African Champion put up a spirited fight against her opponent, losing two sets but eventually prevailing in 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 7-11 and 15-13 to win the game in the women’s Singles Class 5 Group B. This is an improvement for the 31-year old who lost her first game against China’s Gai Gu on Thursday.
However, Friday’s win saw her finishing 2nd in her group comprising of three players, thus advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals where she will face China’s Bian Zhang.
Obiora is the country’s sole female participant in the Table Tennis event at the Rio Games, and is joined by the duo of Ahmed Koleosho and Emmanuel Nick who competed in Class 3 and Class 4 of the men’s Singles event.
Unfortunately, both players lost their two group games and will not advance to the next stage of the Singles event at the competition. However the pair will partner in the Doubles event
This is Obiora’s second outing at the Paralympics. She made her debut in Beijing 2008 where she competed in the women’s Singles Class 4 and finished 3rd in her group. She also won a Silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
