Table Tennis: Nigeria, Egypt Are Beatable In Tunis – Feredj
Twice Hiba Feredj has led Algerian team to tame Nigeria and Egypt in major competitions and the London-based star is ready to shoulder the responsibility again at the 2017 ITTF African Junior Championships in Tunis.
Having made her debut for Algeria at the 2015 World Junior Circuit in Mauritius, Hiba Feredj has cemented her place in the junior and senior national teams. On her debut, she was part of the girls’ team that won the African Junior Championship title at the expense of superpower – Egypt and she has continued to improve that she was selected to be part of the female team to the 2016 World Team Championship in Malaysia.
She was inspiration to the Algerian team to the 2016 World Junior Championship in Pretoria, South Africa, when the Algerian girls overcame Nigeria in the team event of the championships.
“I think our confidence is high now having beaten Nigeria and Egypt in previous competitions. We are not afraid of them because they are always beatable so in Tunis, we will try and repeat what we have done in the past. But I must also admit that it promises to be explosive and exciting in Tunis because every team is getting stronger now and we are going there to be among the top three teams as well as qualify for the World Junior Championship holding later in the year in Italy,” she said.
On Algeria’s chance in Tunis, she said: “Yes of course Algeria can compete for the podium because we have done it once so we can do it again. After all anything is possible and with hard work comes great reward. As long as we work hard then we can do it. My personal target for this year’s African Junior Championships is to get as far as possible and hopefully win the competition. It will be good to win gold as well as do well in the team event as well. But overall I hope I play to my full potential and do well.”