Lausanne, Feb 18, 2016: Nigeria’s Segun TORIOLA has made history by qualifying for his seventh Olympic Games at the ITTF-African Rio 2016 Qualification event held today in Khartoum, Sudan.
TORIOLA’s appearance at Rio 2016 will be the most by an African in any sport, writing himself into African sporting history.
After achieving the amazing feat, the four time All-African Games champion, who made his Olympic debut back at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games stated: “I am very excited about this achievement, I never thought I could be playing a seventh Olympic Games in my career. I am honoured that I made history as the African to achieve this feat.”
“It was a little difficult for me because I played under a lot of pressure, I was the favourite for this tournament, and I had to be cautious in my games as most of the players wanted to beat me. I ensured I was not too confident in all my matches and play them carefully.”
“I am glad that I made it and I hope now to focus on the preparation for Rio, which is very vital for me!”
With the 41-year-old’s 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 win over Mawussi AGBETOGLO (TOG), TORIOLA joins table tennis legends Jean-Michel SAIVE (BEL), Jorgen PERSSON (SWE) & Zoran PRIMORAC (CRO) in an elite group of players who have played at seven Olympic Games.
PERSSON welcomes TORIOLA into the exclusive ‘7 Club’ with open arms: “This is simply an amazing achievement. He is a talented player and deserves all the accolades he gets. I am very happy to welcome him into the ‘7 Club’.” —- ITTF
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.