THE Nigerian table tennis team began their campaign in Group 4 of the men’s team event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia on a bright note on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team Nigeria defeated Malaysia and Belize in their opening two ties on Thursday.

Olajide Omotayo defeated Chee Feng from Malaysia in three straight sets, recording 13-11, 15-13, 11-7 in his second match of the day.

Omotayo had earlier defeated Rohit Pagarani from Belize 11-4, 11-2,11-2 in his first game.

Bode Abiodun also beat Mohammed Rizal from Malaysia 11-5,11-7,13-11 in his second game after he had outclassed Devesh Hukmani also from Belize 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 in his first game.

In the men’s team doubles, the pair of Azeez Jamiu and Olajide Omotayo lost 4-11, 9-11 and 7-11 to Javen Choong and Chee Feng Leong from Malaysia.

They had earlier defeated Terry Su and Devesh Hukmani from Belize 11-6, 11-4, 11-5.

Jamiu bounced back from the team’s doubles defeat to edge Mohammed Rizal from Malaysia 3-2 in a keenly-contested game.

The 34-year-old won the game 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8 to hand Nigeria a 3-1 win over Malaysia in their second group game.

Abiodun will take on Javen Choong from Malaysia and Terry Su from Belize later on Thursday in his remaining games, while Jamiu will face Rohit Pagarani from Belize.

NAN also reports that the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will be Nigeria’s 13th since its maiden appearance in 1950.

Team Nigeria will also be seeking to surpass their best performance at the competition, having won a record 37 medals at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.

Nigeria won 36 medals (11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze) at the last edition of the Commonwealth Games which was held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2014.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games which got underway with a colorful opening ceremony on Wednesday is expected to end on April 15.

– Apr. 5, 2018 @ 16:27 GMT