Tanzania girl bags Kenya table tennis title

Tanzania’s up and coming table tennis player Sara Alidina competes in the Kenya Coast open tournament where she won the title after beating top-ranked Sarah Joseph 2-0. She will now compete in the national championships in Eldoret in July. PHOTO|COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Sara, who represents Mvita County, started the encounter with a bang, recording 11-6 in the first set and later scoring 12-10 in the second set to emerge top in the championships.

Dar es Salaam. Finally, upcoming Tanzanian table tennis player Sara Alidina has won the Kenyan Coast Regional Championships 2018 after beating Sarah Joseph from Kilifi County 2-0 in the final.

Sara, who represents Mvita County, started the encounter with a bang, recording 11-6 in the first set and later scoring 12-10 in the second set to emerge top in the championships.

The Aga Khan Academy student will now represent the region in the Kenya championships to be held next month in Eldoret.

It was a tense final as Joseph is among the top table tennis players in the championships that featured Sara as the first and only Tanzanian in the history of the games. Sara, who studies at The Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, also faced tough competition in the semi-finals.

“I am very happy that I won this title; it was a target in my career. It was not an easy match for me as some of the table tennis players are very experienced. I was competing for the first time. It was tense for me and I promise to work harder and dominate other events,” said Sara in a telephone interview.

Before playing in the final, Sara shone in preliminary matches, beating Saida Abubakar of Taita 2-0, and later recording 2-1 victory over Karembo Okoth also from Taita town. She then won by 2-0 against Zawadi Haji from Lamu.

She also beat Kenyan top seed Table Tennis player Zamzam Mohamed from Kilifi 2-1. The Tanzanian lost 6-11 before scoring 11-9 and 14-12 respectively. She then lost 2-1 against Praise John of Taita, however she topped the group.

In the quarter final, the Tanzanian girl won best of five with 3-0 and later emerged victorious against Loice Okoth in the semifinal with a 2-0 result.