Nigeria’s deputy captain, Matthew Kuti, and teammate Favour Ojo have been eliminated from the table tennis event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal following defeats in their respective final preliminary-round matches.

Ojo suffered her third defeat in the women's singles competition after losing to her opponent from Hong Kong earlier in the day. The Nigerian failed to finish among the top two players in her group, who qualified for the knockout stage.

Kuti, who needed just one more victory to secure progression to the men's singles knockout stage, also suffered a setback, losing 0-3 to Italy’s Francesco Travesan.

His defeat means he joins several other African players who have exited the competition at the preliminary stage.

Of the 15 African players who began their campaigns in pursuit of podium finishes, only Algeria’s Tania Morice and Egypt’s Abdelmalk Elsayed remain in contention.

Both players will be hoping to reach the latter stages of the competition and match or surpass Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo’s quarter-final achievement at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

In the men's singles, Algeria’s Aylan Goudjil, Benin Republic’s Ganiou Abdourahaman, Senegal’s Amador Ferrer, Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli and Uganda’s Joseph Sebatindira were among those eliminated in the preliminary round.

Similarly, Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy, Ghana’s Joanita Borteye, Madagascar’s Tina Andriantahina, Senegal’s Marieme Diallo, Tunisia’s Ela Saidi and Uganda’s Jemimah Nakawala exited the women's singles competition following their respective defeats.