The East African vice-champion, Karen Raharimanana packed up the 16 stadiumses final at the African Games at the Accra International Conference Centre.
Mixed fortunes for Malagasy table tennis players. The expatriate, Karen Raharimanana was eliminated near the round of 16 of the singles table tennis tournament at the African Games. She faced the Algerian, Lucie Mobarek, and lost by 3 sets to 1, (3-11, 9-11, 11-5, 5-11). “ I know her very well. We play in the same club and she was better than me “, she said. At 1is round, Karen beat the Kenyan, Nelly Mutuma, in three sets (11-9/11-3 and 11-5). She subsequently snatched victory in the second round after an intensely close and contested match against the Ghanaian, Eva Adom, in five sets (4-11/8-11/11-5/13-11 and 11-7). Led by 2 sets to 0, Karen manages to come back and even ends up reversing the trend and winning. Océanne Rakotondrazaka lost to the Algerian Lynda Loghraibi in three sets (8-11/9-11 and 7-11). Despite the lack of international experience of the Madagascar champion, unlike her opponent, Océanne held on. She surprised the Nigerian Sukurat Aiyelabegan by outclassing her by 3 sets to 1 (7-11/11-6/12-10 and 11-7). Fitia Andriamanantena had the bitter experience against the Tunisian, Fadwa Garci, silver medalist of the 2023 Francophonie Games. The number one in the classification match for the African Games lost by 3 sets to 1 (6-11/ 11-4/12-14 and 6-11).
In the men’s hostilities, Fabio Rakotoarimanana, world player in South Korea in February and silver medalist at the Francophonie Games in August 2023, inherited a very tough draw. Exempted from the first round, in the second round, he faced the Algerian Stéphane Ouaiche, former French champion. He lost in three sets to nothing (7-11/3-11 and 9-11). In the other matches, the Riva brothers and Setra Rakotoarisoa were eliminated in the second round as well. Riva lost against the Nigerian, Amadi Omeh, by 3 sets to 1 (3-11/7-11/11-7 and 7-11) and Setra against the Tunisian, Wassim Essid, by 3 sets to 2 (9-11 /11-6/9-11/11-9 and 5-11). No medal then for Malagasy table tennis in the singles tournament.
T.H