Assar leads Egypt against Nigeria, others in table tennis event

The highest ranked African player and defending champion, Omar Assar will lead the Egyptian team against Nigeria and others at the 2015 African Games holding in Congo Brazzaville.
Assar, who recently equaled Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri record by climbing from 47 to 30 in the world in the August ITTF ranking released at the weekend, will spearhead the North African nine-team to the multi-sports championship holding in the Central Africa region next month.


As the defending champion of the table tennis event of the games, Egypt will have their hands full against Nigeria and Congo Brazzaville who recently acquired three Chinese players to bolster their team for the championship.

For the men’s team, Egypt named Assar’s sibling, Khaled, El-Sayed Lashin, Mohammed El-Beiali and veteran Ahmed Saleh.
African women champion, Dina Meshref will inspire the female team including Nadeen El-Dawlatly, Yossra Helmy and Farah Abdel-Aziz.
El-Dawlatly had told Sportinglife recently that the games promise to be exiting considering the listing of Chinese players by host – Congo Brazzaville.

“I think it is going to be explosive this year because of the new Chinese players and Nigeria should not be ruled as well because they have experienced players like Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong, who is the defending champion in singles. There is no doubt that this year’s tournament will be explosive but I am confidence we can perform well against the best in Brazzaville,” she said.

The 2014 Lagos Open champion, who has been out of action due to knee-injury, was satisfied with her performance in Cameroon. “I am so happy that I played well in Cameroon and my performance has really boosted my confidence ahead of the All Africa Games,” she said.