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Segun Moses Toriola (born 18 September 1974 in
Ilorin Ilorin is the capital city of Kwara State located in the Western region of Nigeria. The city is a major hub for transportation and commerce in the region. . Retrieved 18 February 2007 Although Ilorin is classified under the North-Central g ...
, Kwara,
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
) is a retired Nigeria professional
table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
player.


Biography

He is the youngest of nine brothers. Since 1995, he had been ranked amongst the top table tennis players in Africa. Ranked number 1 in Africa from 1998 to June 2008, when
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
ian Eli Saleh Ahmed became the leading African table tennis player. However, since 2009, Toriola has again been the number 1st in Africa. Renowned for his unusual style of forehand play, which makes him an awkward opponent for many. Despite lacking good footwork has an excellent topspin which has allowed him to pull off many upsets with top world players. During his career, he has won multiple medals in international singles tournaments. Some of his important achievements are: * 4 African Table Tennis Singles Championships (1998, 2002, 2004, 2006) and 2 Doubles Championships (1994,1992) * A Commonwealth Singles Championship (2002) in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
(
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
) * A Commonwealth Doubles Championship and Singles Bronze Medal (2006) in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
(
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
) * 4
All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...
Singles Gold Medals (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007), 4 Doubles Gold Medals (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007), 1 Mixed Doubles Gold Medal (1999, with Bose Kaffo; they also won silver in 2003)
 and 3 Team Gold Medals (1995, 1999, 2003). He represented Nigeria at seven
Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
debuting at
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. His biggest achievement at the Olympics has been reaching the Men's Singles 1/16 final at the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, beating amongst others former world number 1 Jean-Michel Saive as well as David Zhuang. His 1/32 match-up with Jean-Michel Saive was seen by many as one of the highlights of the Men's Singles Tournament. He narrowly lost 4–3 to heavily favoured
Oh Sang-Eun Oh Sang-eun (; ; born April 13, 1977, in Daegu, South Korea) is a South Korean table tennis player. His world ranking had been in the top 10 since the 2005 World Championships in Shanghai until April 2008. His highest ranking was number 5 in ...
in the 1/16 final. His fifth Olympic appearance in 2008 made him the first Nigerian ''man'' to appear at five Olympics. This feat was achieved four years earlier by sprinter Mary Onyali and also in 2008 by fellow table tennis player Bose Kaffo. By the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics, only thirteen table tennis players worldwide had appeared at least five Olympics. With his participation in 2012 Olympics in London he became the only Nigerian athlete to appear at six Olympics. He therefore joined
João N'Tyamba João Baptista N'Tyamba (born 20 March 1968) is an Angolan runner. He was born in Lubango. He started as a middle-distance runner and competed in the 800 meters at Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres, 1988 Summer Olympics. He ...
of
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and
Maria Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired Mozambican female track and field who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a th ...
of
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
as only third ever African athlete to compete in so many Summer Olympics. Toriola competed in the 2018 IITF African-Cup, placing first in group 4, allowing him to qualify for the Quarter Finals. In the Quarter Finals, Toriola faced and was defeated by Congolese player Saheed Idowu (2-4) resulting in Toriola's elimination. In the placement rounds, Toriola defeated both Thameur Mamia (3-2) and Sami Kheroff (3-1) to finish the tournament at 5th place.


See also

*
List of table tennis players This list of table tennis players is alphabetically ordered by surname. The main source of the information included in this page is the official International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) database. More detailed information about their careers is ...
*
List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games Only a small fraction of the world's population ever competes at the Olympic Games; an even smaller fraction competes in multiple Games. 950 athletes (648 men and 302 women) have participated in at least five Olympics from 1896 Summer Olympics ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toriola, Segun 1974 births Living people Nigerian male table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for Nigeria Table tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Nigeria Table tennis players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Table tennis players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in table tennis Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in table tennis African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games gold medalists in table tennis African Games silver medalists in table tennis African Games bronze medalists in table tennis African Games silver medalists for Nigeria African Games bronze medalists for Nigeria Table tennis players at the 2007 All-Africa Games Table tennis players at the 2011 All-Africa Games Table tennis players at the 2019 African Games People from Ilorin 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian people Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 1995 All-Africa Games Medalists at the 1999 All-Africa Games Medalists at the 2003 All-Africa Games Medalists at the 2007 All-Africa Games Medalists at the 2011 All-Africa Games