Exploring the Exciting Profile Of Olajide Omotayo Adeyemi provides a sneak peek into the exciting emergence of Prince Olajide Omotayo Adeyemi. He is surely an African Shining Table Tennis Light.
Date Of Birth: 6th July, 1995
Place Of Birth: Lagos Nigeria
Nationality: Nigerian
Family: Eight
Family Rank: Six Children; Youngest
Profession: Table Tennis Player.
Place Of Residence: Italy
Highest Rank Obtained: 84
Current Rank: 144 In The World, But 1st In Africa.
Overview
Olajide Omotayo is identified with an offensive playing style with a strong topspin stroke.
In 2017, he was signed on to a five-year deal by German kit manufacturer, Gewo.
Represented Nigeria at the 2016 African Championship (Double Event) and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia where he won Bronze and Silver, respectively.
His International debut appearance for Nigeria came in 2018 as a cadet at the 2008 International Table Tennis Federation, African Junior and Cadet Championships which took place in Alexandria, Egypt.
In 2019, he was among the nominees for the prestigious ‘Sportsman of the Year Award’ by the International Table Tennis Federation.
Photo Credit – All-African Games
Tournaments And Medals
- Paris Olympics (France), 2024: No Medals
- Birmingham CW Games (England), 2022: No Medals
- African Games (Accra, Ghana), 2023: Silver (Team)
- Rabat African Games (Morocco), 2019: Gold (Single), Silver (Team), Bronze (Doubles)
- Gold Coast CW Games (Australia), 2018: Silver (Team)
Childhood
Olajide attended Pedro Primary School, Famous, Bariga and furthered to Morocco Comprehensive High School, Igbobi, Yaba.
He also attended Baptist Senior High School, Obanikoro Palmgroove, Lagos, for his Junior and Senior Secondary School Education, respectively.
Professional Career
He was introduced to the game of Table Tennis by his sister, Omobolanle Omotayo, who was once a Table Tennis Champion and started playing Table Tennis at the age of eight.
His playing career started with a local club, the Summer Table Tennis Club, in his neighbourhood in Somolu Area, Lagos State.
At 9, he was one of those who represented his school at the Lagos State Table Tennis Competition for Primary Schools and the National School Sports Competition.
At the international level, he started to represent Nigeria at the age of eleven.
In 2008, he represented Nigeria at the All African Junior Table Tennis Championship in Alexandria, Egypt where he came third, and won Bronze.
Since then, his name became known and established as a prominent figure in Nigeria’s Senior Table Tennis Team, representing the country at various International Tournaments.
Photo Credit – Commonwealth Games
His dream is always to break into the world’s top 50-ranked
Table Tennis Players. At the 2015 All African Games, Olajide Omotayo would not make the qualifying list after being defeated in a pivotal game during the trials.
Due to exit shock, he could not return to his club in Italy and contemplated giving up on the game but Quadri Aruna’s record-breaking qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics gave him every cause, hope and resilience to pick himself up and fight back.
Exploring The Exciting Profile Of Olajide Omotayo Adeyemi
2018 Commonwealth Games
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Olajide appeared to be one of the five male Table Tennis players selected to represent Nigeria. The Nigerian Team comprises Bode Abiodun, Azeez Jamiu, Quadri Aruna, and a well-known player in the person of Segun Toriola.
Nigeria eventually won silver in the final after losing to the Indian Team comprising Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaram and Harmeet Desai. Profile Of Olajide Omotayo Adeyemi
2018 African Championship in Mauritius
Olajide participated in the 2018 African Championship in Mauritius. He scaled through to the semi-finals following his victories over Togo’s Atarou Assou and Angola’s Elizandro André.
He also experienced a blistering encounter after beating Egypt’s no. 3 groups, Mohammed El-Beiali and Shady Magdy, to advance to the semi-finals.
Olajide eventually crashed out after losing to compatriot, Quadri Aruna.
2019 ITTF World Team Cup
At this Tournament, the Nigerian Team was represented by Quadri Aruna, Olajide Omotayo and Bode Abiodun who were drawn to play against Team China in Group A.
Olajide was defeated 0-3 by world number 10, Yun-Ju Lin during the game, and subsequently, also lost (1-2) in the doubles match, comprising him and Quadri Aruna, to Cheng-Ting Liao and Chen Chen-an.
The Nigerian Team Lost (1-3) overall to crash out of the 2019 ITTF Team World Cup, held in Tokyo, Japan. Nigeria finished third in the tournament behind Chinese Taipei who came second.
2019 African Games
This tournament was held in Rabat, Morocco. Olajide was paired against three of the best African players to become the winner of the tournament.
He played against two former champions – Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh and Nigeria’s Segun Toriola in the Quarterfinal and semi-final stages.
He faced Quadri Aruna in the final which was one of its kind and intense. Quadri Aruna was the Highest-Ranked African Table Tennis player at that time.
Omotayo raced into the lead with a 3- 0 (13-11, 11–9, 16–14). The more experienced Quadri had to fight back in the 4th and 5th games reducing the lead to 3–2 with 8–11, 13–15.
Omotayo succeeded the late push by Aruna to claim a 12–10 win and his first international gold medal.
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2020 Tokyo Olympics (2021)
Omotayo made it to Men’s Singles. Several games were reportedly rescheduled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
He experienced four four-straight defeats in the hand of Tiago Apolónia in the First Round.
Photo Credit – NTTF
2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games
Omotayo took part in this tournament with high expectations.
His first game straight to the semi-finals was sterling, defeating, Quadri Aruna and Abiodun Bode, their opponents.
However, the narrative changed in the semi-finals when Team Nigeria lost 1-3 to their Indian counterparts.
The duo of Abiodun Bode and Omotayo Olajide lost 3-0 in the doubles against Desai Harmeet and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan of India.
The Indian pair took the sets 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.
The second single game between Omotayo and Gnanasekaran ended 3-1 in favour of the Indian player.
He took the first set 11-9 while the Nigerian took the second set 11-4.
Gnanasekaran took the third and fourth sets 11-6, 11-8 to send India to the final.
However, in the third-place match, Nigeria lost to England.
The Nigerian duo, Olajide Omotayo and Bode Abiodun lost 6-11, 7-11, and 7-11 to Tom Jarvis and Paul Drinkhall.
Nigeria’s hope of securing a comeback hit a brick wall after Omotayo lost his single game against Drinkhall 4-11, 2-11, 4-11.
2024 Paris Olympics
Omotayo was knocked out of the Table Tennis Singles by Iranian Noshad Alamiyan who has always been described as unpredictable due to his shocking displays and outings.
Olajide Omotayo started on a promising note which saw him clinch his first set 11-6 but Alamiyan recovered later in the game 2nd set to win 11-5.
He stretched his dominance into the 3rd set with 11-4, 12-10, and eventually rounded off the game with 11-8 which earned him a 4-1 overall victory over Omotayo.
Omotayo matched his performance from his last outing at the Tokyo Olympics where he could only make one appearance.
Exploring The Exciting Profile Of Olajide Omotayo Adeyemi