TUNIS, Tunisia, Feb 24 – Kenya’s top seeded player Brian Mutua went down fighting before losing his opening match at the Africa Top 16 Cup in Tunisia to Togolese Fanny Dodgy 3-1 in sets of 8-11, 11-6 and 11-7.
Mutua rallied from a set deficit to pull through in the second set, thanks to an 11-6 comeback. But after a few service errors, he dropped the last two sets (11-6, 11-7) losing the match to the Togolese who had a superior back hand.
“I tried my best, gave my all but the service mistakes nipped my game plan in the bud. I need to minimise on mistakes to set a good platform to attack. After losing the first match there is no stopping. I hope to give my next opponents a run for their money,” said Mutua.
Mutua’s group two has veterans Overmeyer Shane of South Africa and Saleh Ahmed of Egypt. Ahmed who is the Group 2 top seed defeated Overmeyer 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-5).
The crack Europe based Nigerian Aruna Quadri also started off his Too 16 on a high note beating local Hmam Adam by straight sets.
The event, which is the equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations in football, is featuring 16 of the best men and a similar number of ladies.
Egypt’s Dina Meshref who is Africa’s finest lady player defeated Nigerian Bello Fatimo 3-1.
The Africa Trip 16 Cup culminates on Wednesday to pave way for the Africa Singles and Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification Tournament on Thursday through to Saturday.
The top four players in the singles will qualify for both men and women will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
