Nigeria have secured qualification for the 2025 ITTF World Youth Championships in Romania after winning the boys’ U-19 team title at the ongoing African Youth Table Tennis Championships in Lagos.
The thrilling tournament, held at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall inside the Teslim Balogun Stadium, saw the Nigerian boys battle back from a 0-2 deficit to edge out Egypt 3-2 in a tense semi-final encounter.
They carried that momentum into the final, once again overcoming adversity to defeat Tunisia 3-2.
Despite Tunisia’s Wassim Essid claiming victories over both Matthew Kuti and Abdulbasit Abdulfatai, Nigeria clinched the title when Abdulfatai beat Mohamed Khaloufi in straight sets (3-0) in the decider.
The victory marked Nigeria’s return to the top of African youth table tennis after missing out in 2024. Egypt and Algeria shared the bronze medals.
In the girls’ U-19 category, Nigeria were unable to replicate the boys’ success, falling 3-0 to a dominant Egyptian side in the final.
Egypt claimed their fourth consecutive team title and the sole African ticket to the World Youth Championships in the category.
Egypt’s Mariam Younes opened the scoring with a 3-0 win over Aishat Rabiu, followed by Habiba Elbasoumy’s straight-sets victory against Favour Ojo.
Though Kabirat Ayoola managed to take a set off Nour Zaki, the Egyptian wrapped up a 3-1 win to complete the clean sweep, with Madagascar and South Africa settling for bronze.
Elsewhere, history was made in the U-15 girls’ final, where Uganda captured their first-ever African Youth Championships team gold.
They came from behind to defeat Tunisia 3-2, with Patience Anyango sealing the win in the deciding match — a hard-fought 3-2 triumph over Mariam Brahimi.
Egypt and Algeria claimed bronze.