The Nigerian pair of OFFIONG EDEM and CECILIA AKPAN won the gold medal in the women’s doubles event of the table tennis competition at the 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco.

They beat teammates FUNKE OSHONAIKE and FATIMO BELLO 3-2 to win the top honour.

AKPAN and EDEM started the game brightly, winning the first two sets 11-7 11-6. However, the pair of OSHONAIKE and BELLO rallied to win the next two sets 11-7 11-2 to take the game to deuce, where EDEM and AKPAN prevailed 13-11 in the game’s fifth set.

The Nigerian teams had, on their way to the final, beaten Kenya 3-0, Ethiopia 3-0, Chad 3-0 and South Africa 3-0.

In the meantime, Nigeria’s BLESSING OKAGBARE was on Monday disqualified in heat one of the women’s 100m semi-final race for a false start.

Before being disqualified, Nigeria’s fastest athletes in the women’s 100metres had a good run in Heat 3, clocking 11.53secs to place first.

After her disqualification, Ivory Coast’s MARIE TA LOU went on to win the race in 11.36secs.In 2015, Ta Lou won the women’s 100m event of the 2015 All Africa Games.

The final of the men and women’s 100m event will hold today, Tuesday, August 27, 2019.