NAIROBI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Kenya and hosts Ghana have lost out to Egypt and Nigeria and will miss the forthcoming Table Tennis World Junior Championships to be hosted in Bangkok, Thailand from Nov. 24 to Dec. 1.
In addition, an eight-man squad has been named as African team for the World Cadet Challenge (WCC) which will be held in Poland from Oct. 23-30.
The two continent's superpowers will compete in the boys' and girls' categories at the global competitions with Nigeria making a return after two years' absence from the continental qualifiers.
"Our team was not strong enough to secure the Africa ticket. But it has been an important step for the young players as we edge closer to breaking the continent's status quo and maybe soon we will have two players at the Olympics," said Andrew Mudibo, the Kenya Table Tennis Association President.
The announcement follows the conclusion of the recent 2019 African Youth, Junior and Cadet Championships in Accra, Ghana from April 7 to 13.