Nigeria endured another challenging day in table tennis at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, while its swimming campaign began with disappointing results on day two, Sunday November 1 2026.
However, Pamela Bawa and Joy Lawrence provided a positive moment after securing their first victory in the women’s beach volleyball competition on Sunday.
The Nigerian beach volleyball pair defeated Egypt’s Marwa Mamdouh and Karma Badawy 2-0 in their Pool D preliminary-round encounter on Day 2, recovering from their opening-day defeat to Japan.
Bawa and Lawrence had started their campaign with a narrow 2-1 loss to Japan’s Auru Kato and Mei Nakagawa on Saturday, despite winning the opening set 21-20. The Japanese pair fought back to take the remaining sets 21-11 and 15-12.
Their victory over Egypt represents an important response as they pursue qualification for the knockout stages. They are scheduled to face Italy’s Margherita Coretti and Micol Lafuenti in their next Pool D fixture.
The beach volleyball competition features 24 teams in each gender, divided into six pools of four. The top two teams from each pool, alongside the two best third-placed teams, will qualify directly for the Round of 16. The remaining four third-placed teams will contest an additional qualification round.
Table Tennis: Kuti, Ojo Suffer Singles Defeats
Nigeria’s difficulties in table tennis continued as Matthew Kuti and Favour Ojo both suffered defeats in their respective singles preliminary-stage matches.
Kuti lost 3-0 to Hong Kong’s Ho Ki Li in the men’s singles, while Ojo went down 3-1 to Czech Republic’s Hanka Kodet in the women’s competition.
The results add to the disappointment of their mixed doubles campaign, where the Nigerian combination lost 3-1 to Thailand’s Thitaphat Preechayan and Kulapassr Vijitviriyagul in Saturday’s Round of 16.
Both players will have another opportunity to respond, with Kuti scheduled to face Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli and Ojo set to meet Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy in their subsequent preliminary-stage matches.
Table tennis is making its fourth appearance at the Youth Olympic Games, having featured at every edition since the inaugural competition in Singapore in 2010.
Swimming: Akinsanmi, Dumuje-Abili Finish Outside Top Four
Nigeria also experienced a difficult start in swimming, with Omolola Tobiloba Akinsanmi and Aidan Dumuje-Abili finishing outside the leading positions in their respective 100m butterfly heats.
Akinsanmi placed sixth in Heat 2 of the women’s 100m butterfly, recording 1:15.69.
In the men’s event, Grange International School student Dumuje-Abili finished fifth in Heat 2 with a time of 59.73 seconds.
Although neither swimmer secured a leading heat position, Dumuje-Abili will have further opportunities to compete during the swimming programme, which runs from November 1 to 6.
Nigeria has four swimmers listed for the Games, with Kristabel Chisa Oldeide and Kashope Obatoyinbo also part of the country’s swimming contingent.
Nigeria Seeks Stronger Response in Dakar
The mixed results on Sunday follow a difficult opening day for Team Nigeria, which is represented by 19 athletes across several sporting disciplines.
The fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games began on October 31, 2026, in Dakar, Senegal, marking the first time an Olympic sporting event has been hosted on African soil.
With competitions spread across 25 sports, the Games provide an important international platform for emerging athletes to gain experience and measure themselves against some of the world’s most promising young talents.
For Nigeria, the immediate task is to build on the beach volleyball victory, recover from the setbacks in table tennis and swimming, and improve its overall results as the competition progresses.
