Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria’s women’s
table tennis team on Tuesday advanced to the quarter final rounds of
the team event at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

Playing in Group 2,
the Nigerian women’s team, who are one of the favourites for a medal at
the Games, defeated their counterparts from Northern Ireland 3-1 to
secure a spot in the knockout rounds.

The key match of
the tie was the fourth game of the match between Nigeria’s Offiong Edem
and the Northern Irish side’s Liu Na which saw Na, who is of Chinese
decent, winning the first set 12-10 before losing the subsequent three
sets 8-11, 4-11, 11-13.

The matches which
came up at the Yamuna Sports Complex also saw the likes of Canada,
England and Singapore, who like Nigeria are one of the favourites for a
top-three medal finish in the women’s team event, advancing to the last
eight.

The Canadians were
taken to four matches by the plucky islanders from Guernsey but emerged
as comfortable 3-1 winners, finishing as Group 1 runner-up behind top
seed Singapore who, for their part, completed its group games with a
straightforward 3-0 win over Tanzania, thus maintaining its perfect
record of not dropping a single set so far.

England comfortably beat the Maldives 3-0 to consolidate top spot in Group 2 ahead of Nigeria.

In tennis, top seed
Somdev Devvarman of India progressed to the second round of the Men’s
Singles event by defeating Bahamas’ Devin Mullings 6-4, 6-2.

Mullings pulled a
rabbit out of the hat when he raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set
but Somdev clawed his way back in the match by winning five games in a
row. The Bahamian left-hander’s thunderous forehand left Somdev
gasping. But before long, Mullings’ game succumbed to body cramps,
preventing the big upset.

India grabs first gold courtesy shooting

The host nation
however, won its first gold medal of the Games in shooting courtesy of
Abhinav Bindra and Gangan Narang who fired in unison and shot a
Commonwealth Games record 1193 in the men’s 10 metre Air Rifle event.

The pair together scored 1193 to break their own record, which they had set four years ago in Melbourne.

It was also a good
day for India in the boxing ring as Indian boxers opened their campaign
in style with Amandeep Singh (49kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) advancing to
the pre-quarterfinals, following thumping wins in their opening bouts
of the Games.

An almost packed
Talkatora Stadium cheered lustily for every blow Amandeep and Manoj
landed making it a day to remember for the Indian boxing team.

While Commonwealth
gold-medallist Amandeep defeated Kenya’s Peter Warui 6-2 for the second
successive time this year, Manoj was so dominant against Sirrera
Leone’s Daniel Lassoyo that the referee had to award the bout to the
Indian midway through the second round when he was leading 17-1.

Amandeep will next face Rawanda’s Haziza Matusi and Manoj will now square off against Gomotsang Gaasite of Botswana.