Abuja, Nigeria, Oct 8 GNA - Nana Yaw Boateng, the teenage member of the Black Loopers, the national table tennis team produced a spectacular late rally to win a decisive match for Ghana against South Africa in the men's Team Event played at the Lungi Barracks on Tuesday.
The left-handed player clawed back from a seemingly hopeless situation to defeat Shaun Jones in the robber, after both teams had tied at two all.
Nana relied on his powerful forehand loops, which put the South African on the defensive as the Ghanaian made use of his services effectively to gather points on serve.
The Koforidua school boy took the first game 12-10 but lost the next two games 9-11, 6-11, a situation which put Ghana's chances in a precarious situation.
With chants coming from the handful of Ghanaians present in the hall, Nana gathered courage and fought off the South African bluff with on-table serves, which prevented his opponent from firing his swift back and forehand drives.
Nana won it 11-6, sending the match into a robber.
At 10 points apiece in the fifth game, Nana had the advantage three times, but lost the vital final strokes and allowed his opponent to steal the advantage from him at the fourth deuce.
The Ghanaian school boy conjured some magic and gathered two straight points at 16 all to give the match to Ghana 3-2 and brighten the Loopers' chances of gaining a semi final berth to meet hosts, Nigeria.
Earlier in the duel against the South Africans, Shane Overmayer put Thabo Mbeki's boys on the winning trail in the first match with a 3-2 defeat of Nana Yaw but Eric Amoah evened scores for Ghana when he outclassed Shaun Jones 3-0.
Eric Hammond put Ghana into the lead with a 3-1 defeat of Theo Cogill, while Shane Overmayer set up the fifth match when he posted a 3-0 win over Eric Amoah.
The Ghanaian male team had earlier beaten Ethippia 3-0, after going down by the same margin to Egypt.
Meanwhile, the female team redeemed part of their battered pride when they won their first match 3-0 against Senegal. They had earlier lost 0-3 to Egypt, 1-3 to South Africa and 0-3 to Algeria.