Maldives table tennis team has won a gold medal in the 2019 Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG).

The Maldives team won against Mauritius and secured its first gold medal in the games, being hosted in Mauritius.

Maldives team beat Mauritius 3- 2.

The first match saw the youngest player on the team, Dheema, competing against Mauritius. She lost the match with the Mauritius player taking all three sets, 11 – 9, 11 – 2, 12 – 10 and 11 – 6.

Maldives won the second match with player Rafa having steepened the team’s hope to win the game. Rafa took the lead with scores 11 – 9, 12 – 10, 11 – 7, 11 – 3 and 11 – 9.

Mueena, a national table tennis champion for 13 consecutive years since 2003, lost the third match 11 – 1, 11 – 8 and 14 – 12.

The fourth match was taken on by Dheema who showed an exemplary performance and won the match 3 – 1 sets.

With the last match of the game, Rafa secured gold medal for the team by winning 3 – 1 sets.

Following the triumphant win, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who attended the match and celebrated with the team right after the win, had expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance via twitter. His tweet reads that the team is the “pride and joy” of the entire country.

The table tennis team took part in the games in hopes of winning a medal.

Alongside the First Couple, Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Ahmed Mahloof and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid had attended the event.