By VIVIAN AHANMISI

Nigeria’s Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo have crashed out of the table tennis event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal.

Their exits followed defeats in their final preliminary-round matches, ending Nigeria’s campaign in the competition.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that International Table Tennis Africa confirmed the development on Monday.

Ojo suffered defeat against her Hong Kong opponent, recording her third loss in four group matches.

Only the top two players in each group qualified for the knockout stage.

Kuti, Nigeria’s deputy captain, also failed to advance after losing 0-3 to Italy’s Francesco Travesan.

The Nigerian needed one more victory to secure qualification for the knockout stage but fell short.

Their elimination leaves only two African players among the original 15 representatives competing in the event.

They are Algeria’s Tania Morice and Egypt’s Abdelmalk Elsayed, who remain hopeful of advancing further.

Both will seek to match or surpass Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo’s quarter-final achievement at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

Meanwhile, several other African players also exited the men’s singles preliminary rounds.

They include Algeria’s Aylan Goudjil, Benin Republic’s Ganiou Abdourahaman, Senegal’s Amador Ferrer and Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli.

Uganda’s Joseph Sebatindira also failed to progress following his preliminary-round defeat.

In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy, Ghana’s Joanita Borteye and Madagascar’s Tina Andriantahina also exited.

Senegal’s Marieme Diallo, Tunisia’s Ela Saidi and Uganda’s Jemimah Nakawala equally suffered preliminary-round eliminations. (NAN)