- Segun Toriola
Segun Toriola (born
September 18 ,1974 ) is a Nigerian professionaltable tennis player.Born in
Ilorin ,Kwara ,Nigeria , as the youngest of nine brothers.Since
1995 is ranked as the best Nigerian player, a status he has kept from then on. He has been amongst the top table tennis players in Africa since the mid 1990s. Ranked number 1 in Africa from1998 toJune 2008 , when EgyptianEli Saleh Ahmed became the leading African table tennis player. Renowned for his unusual style of forehand play, which makes him an awkward opponent for many. Despite lacking good footwork has an excellent topspin, which has allowed him to pull off many upsets with top world players.During his career he has won multiple medals in international singles tournaments. Some of his important achievements are:
* 4 African Table Tennis Singles Championships (1998 ,2002 ,2004 ,2006 ) and 2 Doubles Championships (1994 ,1992 )
* A Commonwealth Singles Championship (2002 ) inManchester (United Kingdom )
* A Commonwealth Doubles Championship and Singles Bronze Medal (2006 ) inMelbourne (Australia )
* 4All-African Games Singles Gold Medals (1995 ,1999 ,2003 ,2007 ), 4 Doubles Gold Medals (1995 ,1999 ,2003 ,2007 ) and 3 Team Gold Medals (1995 ,1999 ,2003 ).He represented Nigeria at five
Summer Olympics debuting atBarcelona . His biggest achievement at the Olympics has been reaching the Men's Singles 1/8 final at the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing , beating amongst others former world number 1Jean-Michel Saive as well asDavid Zhuang . His 1/16 match-up withJean-Michel Saive was seen by many as one of the highlights of the Men's Singles Tournament. He narrowly lost 4-3 to favouredOh Sang-Eun in the 1/8 final. [ [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/2/227462.shtml Profile at the 2008 Beijing official website] ]References
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