by Ian Marshall, Editor
The top seeds, at the final hurdle, a three matches to one victory was posted against Nigeria, the no.2 seeds; Dina Meshref the mainstay of the win.
She gave her team the ideal start by beating Offiong Edem in the opening match of the fixture (11-5, 4-11, 11-3, 11-4), before closing the curtain by overcoming Olufunke Oshonaike in the fourth engagement (13-11, 11-8, 11-6).
Sandwiched in between Farah Abdel-Aziz experienced defeat by the very narrowest of margins against Olufunke Oshonaike (6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9, 13-11), before Yousra Helmy accounted for Janet Effiom (11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9) to turn the pendulum inexorably in favour of Egypt.
A successful end to the Women’s Team event for Egypt, it was the same for Algeria and Mauritius in the contests for the principal places.
Represented by Katia Kessaci, Sannah Lagsir and Lynda Loghraibi, Algeria secured a well-merited third place; in the play-off contest, they recorded a three-nil win in opposition to South Africa’s Thabisile Mitshoelibe, Simeen Mookrey and Danisha Patel.
Third place for Algeria, for the hosts it was a highly creditable fifth position. In the determining contest Oumehani Hosenally , Nandeshwaree Jalim, and Caroline Ramasawmy secured a three-one success in opposition to Angola’s Isabel Albino, Jerusa Borges and Ruth Tavares.
Play resumes in Port Louis on Friday 7th September with the individual events.
2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Monday 3rd September
2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Tuesday 4th September
2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Wednesday 5th September