36-year-old Nigeria’s second-ranked table tennis star, Edem Offiong has made history as the first Nigerian to win the European Cup Women’s Table Tennis title.
Remarkably, it was also the first European title for ASD Quattro Mori Cagliari club.
The elated Offiong, who currently ranked 142nd in the world, helped her Italian Quattro Mori Cagliari record the famous victory over Hungary’s SH ITB Budaorsi Sport Club in the final over two legs in Budapest.
According to reports, the Italian team emerged victorious in both legs, with a 3-2 win in the first match and a 3-0 win in the second match.
The history maker recovered from an opening set defeat to beat Maria Fazekas 3-1 (5-11, 10-12, 7-11, 7-11) in the second leg after she had thrashed the Hungarian 3-0 (6-11, 6-11, 8-11) in the first leg.
In a chat with newsmen, Offiong said “I’m so happy we won the European Cup Women’s Table Tennis title. I’m proud of everyone and I’m so overwhelmed”.
“We approached every match with the same level of focus and intensity as we did in the first leg, but this time, we were even better.
“We had studied them very well and knew how to overcome them.”
She recently missed out on representing Nigeria at the just-concluded 2023 ITTF-Africa Cup in Nairobi, Kenya due to club engagement.
Offiong aims to translate her club form to the national team when she and six other Nigerians compete for honours at the World Table Tennis tourney billed for Durban, South Africa from May 20 t0 28.
The Calabar-born table tennis player competed for Nigeria at the 2004 and 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics. She qualified to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
