Taiwo Mati, Olajide Omotayo and Azeez Solanke comfortably defeated South Africa 3-0 in the first group match and then replicated the result against Ivory Coast to put the team in a commanding position in Group One.

However, Mati was taken all the way to five games in a thrilling match against fellow West African Oba Kizito Oba where he was forced to produce a comeback from 2-1 down.

Meanwhile, Egypt did not lose a single game against Ghana or Kenya in line with pre-tournament expectations to top Group Two.

In Group Three, second seeds Congo had a nightmare start by losing all three of its fixtures as it props up Togo, Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Group Four began with a brilliant 3-2 win for Algeria against Tunisia which included two five-game showdowns.

Algeria's Larbi Bouriah went head-to-head with Aboubaker Bourass and came away with a dramatic victory after winning the last two games 12-10 and 11-9.

Bourass then avenged his loss with a 3-2 win against Sami Kherouf which included a monster fourth game that ended 22-20 to the Algerian.

Egypt's women matched the success of the men with a 3-0 whitewash against Cameroon, although they were awarded a walkover win following Congo's withdrawal from the competition.

Mauritius is living up to its first seed status in the group, dismissing South Africa and Cameroon while receiving an automatic 3-0 victory against Congo.

The island nation faces Egypt tomorrow in the match that will surely determine the group.

Nigeria has breezed through two matches against Kenya and Uganda, 3-0 each, as it is yet to find a worthy challenger in the women's team event.

The group stages are set to come to a conclusion tomorrow before the quarter-finals and classification rounds begin.