Sejal Thakkar keeps Rio dream alive in Khartoum

Sejal Thakkar recovered from an initial straight sets defeat at the hands of Sarah Hanffou of Cameroon to cruise through to the quarterfinals of the Rio 2016 Africa Olympic Qualifiers in Khartoum.

The Nairobi-based mother of two had her campaign effectively sewn up after racking an impressive 3-0 victory over Hussein Hayaa of Sudan in her last match of Group 2.

Sejal wrapped up her preliminary campaign in seconds to book a quarterfinals berth Wednesday against Algerian Lynda Loghraibi.

Loghraibi emerged the winner in Group 4 with her compatriot Laid Islem also making it though to the last eight of the event that will qualify two men and two women to the Rio summer Games on Thursday.

“I am chuffed by today’s outcome. The matches were really tight and I’m glad that I made it to the knockout stage despite losing the opening match to the Cameroonian,” Sejal said.

France based Peter Theuri played his heart out but kissed the Khartoum extravaganza goodbye after finishing third in Group 4.

Theuri suffered two straight sets defeats to Adem Hman of Tunisia and Sami Kherolf of Algeria. He however picked himself and defeated Idris El MUlasim of Sudan 3-1.

Kenya’s veteran player Anthony Mathenge also lost two matches by straight sets, one to Nigerian Toriola Segun and the other to Hussein Ahmed of Sudan.

Segun who played in the 1987 4th All Africa Games in Nairobi is chasing Africa’s unprecedented seventh Olympic Games appearance record.

Earlier Mathenge chalked up maximum points when his Senegalese opponent Emmanuel Gboyah failed to show up for Group 1 opening match.

“Playing in the same group with Toriola wasn’t an easy task. All in all, it was not a bed of roses against the rest. The matches were really tough and as competitors we gave it our all. We are now pegging our hopes on Sejal in tomorrow’s matches,” said Mathenge who has played in a number of All Africa Games tournaments including the Abuja edition in 2013 and most recently in Congo Brazaville.

Despite handing Sudan’s Osman Kauthar a 3-1 blow, Della Njani of Kenya suffered two straight sets defeats to Laid Islem of Algeria and Safa Saidani of Tunisia to bow out.

The Kenyan team is being coached by George Kiringe and managed by Nairobi based journalist Samson Ateka. The team returns home on Thursday aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane.