AYC-ITTF: Atunwon inspires Nigeria to retain U-19 title

Nigeria’s Quadri Atunwon produced a remarkable performance to help Nigeria defeat Egypt and retain the boys’ U-19 team title at the 2026 ITTF Africa Youth Championships.

The finals were played on Wednesday at the Borteyman Sports Complex in Accra.

Nigeria trailed 0-2 after losing the opening two matches, but Sultan Agunbiade revived the team’s hopes with a spirited victory to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Matthew Kuti, who had earlier lost 2-3 to Yassin Gaber, redeemed himself with a 3-1 victory over Abdelmalk Elsayed to level the tie at 2-2 and force a deciding match.

The title was then decided by Atunwon and Gaber in a thrilling final contest.

The players shared the first four games to leave the match tied at 2-2.

Atunwon appeared on course for victory after taking an 8-2 lead in the deciding fifth game, but Gaber fought back to level at 8-8 before moving ahead 10-8 to earn two match points.

The Nigerian refused to surrender, levelling the score at 10-10 before winning the thrilling decider 16-14.

His victory secured the title for Nigeria and ensured the country retained the boys’ U-19 team crown.

Egypt dominated the other team events, winning the boys’ U-15, girls’ U-15 and girls’ U-19 titles.

Egypt defeated Nigeria 3-0 in the boys’ U-15 final after the defending champions had survived a difficult semifinal against hosts Ghana with a narrow 3-2 victory.

Ahmed Elsabbagh gave Egypt the early advantage with a 3-0 victory over Marvelous Joseph, before Asser Sameh defeated Usman Ayoola by the same score.

Hussein Eyad completed Egypt’s victory with another straight-sets win over Samson Joshua.

In the girls’ U-15 final, Egypt regained the title it lost to Uganda in 2025 after defeating Tunisia 3-1.

Egypt also retained the girls’ U-19 title with a commanding 3-0 victory over Algeria.

The results gave Egypt three of the four team titles on offer, reaffirming its dominance in African youth table tennis.

Nigeria, however, celebrated a memorable boys’ U-19 triumph, inspired by Atunwon’s match-winning performance.