The vastly experienced Nigeria table tennis player defeated Mawussi Agbetoglo of Togo by four straight sets of 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6.
Toriola’s impending appearance at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be the most by an African athlete.
After achieving the feat, the four-time All-African Games champion, who made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, said he was excited about the achievement as he never thought he could be playing in as much as seven Olympic Games in his career.
Toriola, who is honoured that he made history as the first African athlete to achieve such feat, said it was by no easy feat qualifying for the Games in Rio since he was playing under pressure, adding that as the tournament’s favourite, he was being cautious since most of the ping-pongers wanted to defeat him.