African Games: Another heartbreak for Ghana in table tennis
Ghana's bid for table tennis glory suffered a setback as the national team, the Black Loopers, bowed out of the team event following a gripping 2-3 defeat against South Africa in the quarter-finals at the Accra International Conference Centre yesterday.
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Despite a standout performance by young talent Juanita Borteye, who secured a convincing 3-0 victory in her match, it was team captain Celia Baah-Danso's narrow 2-3 defeat in the final match that sealed Ghana's fate.
Revival mission
Now ousted from the singles and team events, Ghana's medal aspirations hinge on the upcoming doubles and mixed doubles competitions, scheduled to commence tomorrow.
Ghana's head coach, Anthony Owusu-Ansah, says the squad would not relent to reverse the setbacks in the upcoming events.
"We are going to give our all in the doubles mixed doubles.
We will fight for every ball and play our best to get into the medal zone," the lead trainer of the Black Loopers told the Daily Graphic.
The Ghanaian female trio comprising Baah-Danso, Cynthia Kwabi and Juanita Borteye faced off against South Africa's Musfiquh Kalam, Danisha Patel and Laila Edwards.
South Africa gained an early advantage with wins from Kalam and Patel, who defeated Baah-Danso 3-2 and Kwabi 3-0, respectively, but Borteye's 3-0 triumph against Edwards brought Ghana back into contention. Kwabi's subsequent 3-1 victory over Kalam in the fourth match levelled the score at 2-2.
In the decisive final match, Baah-Danso initially led 2-0 against Patel but ultimately succumbed to pressure and allowed her opponent to claw back to tie the match 2-2 before romping to victory with an 11-8 victory to secure South Africa a spot in the semi-finals.
In other women's quarter-final matches, Nigeria secured a 3-0 victory over Ethiopia to advance to the semi-finals, while Tunisia defeated Angola 3-1 to secure their place in the next stage of the competition.
