Nigeria’s table tennis campaign at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, has ended following the elimination of its representatives, Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo, in the preliminary rounds.

The two Nigerian players suffered defeats in their final group-stage matches on Monday, November 2, 2026, bringing their participation in the table tennis competition to an end.

Kuti, Nigeria’s deputy captain and reigning African Youth Cup champion, needed a victory against Italy’s Francesco Trevisan to secure qualification for the men’s singles knockout stage. However, he suffered a 3-0 defeat, losing 12-10, 11-2 and 11-7.

The Nigerian had earlier revived his qualification hopes with a 3-1 victory over Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli after losing his opening match 3-0 to Hong Kong’s Li Ki Ho.

Meanwhile, Favour Ojo also exited the women’s singles competition after suffering her third defeat in the group stage against her Hong Kong opponent.

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

With their exits, Nigeria will no longer have representatives in the table tennis medal race at the competition.

Of the 15 African players who began the table tennis event, only Algeria’s Tania Morice and Egypt’s Abdelmalk Elsayed remained in contention as of November 3.

The elimination marks a disappointing end to Nigeria’s table tennis campaign at the historic Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which is the first edition of the Youth Olympics to be hosted on African soil.

Nigeria, however, continues to have athletes competing in other sporting events at the Games, which runs from October 31 to November 13, 2026.