Nigeria's Kuti and Ojo exit Dakar 2026 YOG table tennis after preliminary losses
Nigeria's table tennis campaign at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games ended Monday as Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo both lost their final group matches. Kuti, Nigeria's deputy captain, fell 3-0 to Italy's Francesco Travesan after reviving hopes with a 3-1 win over Tunisia's Youssef Aidli on Sunday. He had opened with a 3-0 loss to Hong Kong's Li Ki Ho. Ojo suffered her third straight group defeat, losing to a Hong Kong opponent.
Only the top two in each group advance to the knockout stage. The early exits mean Nigeria has no representatives left in the table tennis medal race at the Games. Of the 15 African players who started, only Algeria's Tania Morice and Egypt's Abdelmalk Elsayed remain in contention — both chasing the continent's best YOG table tennis result, Nigeria's Ojo Onaolapo's quarter-final finish at Singapore 2010.
African campaigns collapsed across both draws: Algeria's Aylan Goudjil, Benin's Ganiou Abdourahaman, Senegal's Amador Ferrer, Tunisia's Youssef Aidli, Uganda's Joseph Sebatindira, Egypt's Yara Elbadawy, Ghana's Joanita Borteye, Madagascar's Tina Andriantahina, Senegal's Marieme Diallo, Tunisia's Ela Saidi, and Uganda's Jemimah Nakawala all exited in preliminaries.
Nigeria's medal hopes now rest on its remaining athletes in other sports at the Games. Will the table tennis federation review preparation pathways after another YOG without African podium presence?