TheCable

It was another uninspiring day for Nigerian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics as they delivered appalling performances.

Offiong Edem bowed out in table tennis as Elizabeth Anyanacho was defeated in Taekwando following the capitulation of the badminton team.

In table tennis, Offiong couldn’t build on the brilliant display she exhibited against Hungary’s Dora Madarasz in the first round of the women’s singles.

Zhang Lily of the US was too much for the Calabar-born 34-year-old who slumped into defeat after picking the first set (15-13).

The subsequent sets (11-2, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6) went fast as the Chinese-American wrapped the match in less than 40 minutes.

In Taekwando, Anyanacho, Nigeria’s sole representative, lost out to Turkey’s Nur Tartar, a double Olympic medalist and former world champion, in the women’s -67kg event.

Although the 22-year-old gave an audacious performance that bellies her nascent experience, she was defeated 12-7 by the more weathered Turkish.

Anyanacho, ranked 13th in her weight category, will now wait to see if Tartar makes it to the final to be eligible to fight for a bronze medal.

In badminton, the duo of Godwin Olofua and Anuoluwapo Opeyori failed to bounce back from their opening game loss to the Japanese team as they succumbed to another 2-0 defeat against Denmark’s Astrup Kim and Rasmussen Skaarup in their second group game.

In the women’s singles, Adesokan Dorcas also lost 2-0 to Spain’s Azurmendi Clara in her opening game of the group stage.