Monday Merotohun (born 2 November 1977 in

Ado-Odo ' Ado-Odo is the metropolitan headquarters of the kingdom of Ado, renowned for its Oduduwa/ Obatala temple, the ancient fortress of the traditional practice of Ifá (''Ado n'ile Ifa''). Oodu'a is also regarded by traditionalists as the mother of ...

Ogun Ogun or Ogoun (Yoruba: Ògún, Portuguese: Ogum, Gu; also spelled Oggun or Ogou; known as Ogún or Ogum in Latin America) is a spirit that appears in several African religions. He attempted to seize the throne after the demise of Obatala, who ...

) is a Nigerian table tennis player. Playing with his partner Segun Toriola, Merotohun defeated Egypt's

El-sayed Lashin El-Sayed Lashin (born 9 February 1980 in Alexandria, Egypt) is an Egyptian table tennis player. His current club is Al Ahly in Cairo, where he resides. He qualified for his third Olympic Games at the All Africa Games held in September 2011 in M ...

and

Ahmed Saleh Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar ( ar, أحمد علي عبد الله صالح الأحمر; born July 25, 1972) is the eldest son of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and was a commander of approximately 80,000 troops of the Republ ...

for the gold medal in the men's doubles at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nig ...

Algiers, Algeria Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. As of September 2012, Merotohun is ranked no. 184 in the world by the

International Table Tennis Federation The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tenni ...

(ITTF). He is a member of AS TT Sport Club Etna Riposto in Catania,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and is coached and trained by Obisanya Babatunde. Merotohun is also right-handed, and uses the shakehand grip. Merotohun made his official debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, where he competed in both the singles and doubles tournaments. For his first event, the

men's singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, Merotohun defeated Democratic Republic of the Congo's Momo Babungu in the preliminary round, before losing out his next match to Swedish table tennis player and five-time Olympian

Jörgen Persson Jörgen Persson (born 22 April 1966, in Halmstad, Sweden) is a Swedish table tennis player. In two memorable World Table Tennis Championships finals he faced fellow Swede Jan-Ove Waldner in 1989 and 1991, losing the former and winning the latt ...

, with a set score of 1–4. Merotohun also teamed up with four-time Olympian Segun Toriola in the

men's doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles ...

, where they lost the first round match to the U.S. pair,

Mark Hazinski Mark "Haz" Hazinski (born April 20, 1985, in South Bend, Indiana) is an American professional table tennis athlete. He started playing table tennis at the age of 9 and by the age of 15 had become the youngest player in the history of United Sta ...

and

Ilija Lupulesku Ilija Lupulesku ( sr-cyr, Илија Лупулеску; born October 30, 1967) is a former Serbian and later American table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in ...

(former Olympic silver medalist from Serbia), receiving a unanimous set score of 0–4. Four years after competing in his first Olympics, Merotohun qualified for his second Nigerian team, as a 30-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, by placing second from the men's singles from the All-Africa Games, and receiving a continental spot for Africa in the men's team under ITTF's Computer Team Ranking List. Merotohun joined with his fellow players Kazeem Nosiru and Segun Toriola for the inaugural men's team event. He and his team placed third in the preliminary pool round, earning a total of four points, two defeats (against Japan and Hong Kong), and a single victory over the Russian team (led by Alexei Smirnov). In the

, Merotohun lost the preliminary round match to Turkey's Cem Zeng, with a set score of 2–4.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merotohun, Monday 1977 births Living people Nigerian male table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players for Nigeria Sportspeople from Ogun State Commonwealth Games medallists in table tennis Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Nigeria African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in table tennis African Games silver medalists for Nigeria Table tennis players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Table tennis players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games 20th-century Nigerian people 21st-century Nigerian people Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games