Tournaments

08 Sep 2018

A bronze medal in both the Women’s Team and Women’s Doubles events, fifth place in the Men’s Team competition, for South Africa the current 2018 ITTF-African Championships, which conclude in Port Louis, Mauritius on Sunday 9th September, it has been a successful venture for South Africa.

One player from the Rainbow nation who has attracted the attention has been Theo Cogill, a Class 10 Para athlete.

by Olalekan Okusan, ITTF-Africa Press Officer

Notably earlier this year at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, he was a semi-finalist in Men’s Singles Class 6-10; agonisingly he was beaten in the bronze medal match in a full five games contest by Welshman, Josh Stacey,

He is of no doubt that South Africa is closing the gap on the continents powerhouse nations.

“I am really satisfied with our performance in this competition because we matched the top teams in all our matches. It was not like we were overrun. We just need to maintain the momentum in terms of training and attending competitions within and outside Africa; we need to attend more tournaments and gain more exposure, I think we can make the medal podium at the next African Games.” Theo Cogill

Most significantly, in the Men’s Doubles event on Friday 7th September, the point was endorsed. Theo Cogill and Shane Overmeyer beat Algeria’s Larbi Bouriah and Sami Kherouf, the no.4 seeds (11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6), before experiencing a quarter-final defeat at the hands of the Ivory Coast’s Kanate Ali and Oba Kizito (11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7).

“It is always hard playing in Africa because most of the players have a good fighting spirit and they are born with that natural ability. They might not be up there in terms of technique but the never-say-die attitude of any average African sometimes makes it hard to predict the outcome of any match. Generally I must say that the standard has really gone up in Africa particularly with Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna taking down some of the world’s best.” Theo Cogill

Theo Cogill is expected to fly South Africa’s flag at 2018 World Para Championships to be staged next month in Slovenia. He will be attending on a two week training tour at the National Table Tennis Training Centre in Doha, Qatar later this month.

2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Monday 3rd September

2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Tuesday 4th September

2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Wednesday 5th September

2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Friday 7th September

2018 ITTF African Championships: Newsletter – Saturday 8th September

2018 African Championships Theo Cogill
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Day 7 - 2018 ITTF Africa Championships