Wife of Nigeria’s No. 1 Table Tennis player, Aruna Quadri, Ganiyat, has disclosed why it took her two years to agree to Aruna’s marriage proposal.
Ganiyat, a former national tennis player, revealed that she was not keen on dating any one in her camp while working on being a successful table tennis player.
She said: “He asked me out in 2004 but I refused to be his girlfriend. He sent people to me and I refused. But after a while, I decided to yield to people’s advice, after weighing the proposal, I decided to give it a trial. Now I feel so good and blessed because it gives me joy being married to him.”
Shedding more light on how they met, she said that initially, they had met at ANOCA Games and later at the national camp where they were all preparing for the Commonwealth Games which she did not qualify for.
Ganiyat who is presently a mother of three told NationSports that she would love to go back to table tennis after nursing her kids.
She said: “I am into business, I am still breastfeeding our third child, it is not easy combining two things together with the help of my husband taking care of me.”
The Ogun-State born lady does not, however, see her husband’s tight schedule affecting her home negatively.
According to her, as a sports lady, there is no choice but to cope: “Though I miss him a lot, anytime he travels”, she said.
It has not however been a bed of roses for the Quadris as she explained that they had gone through thick and thin. She described their humble beginning as ‘suffering and smiling’.
Ganiyat, a former national table tennis player noted that there was a time they had accommodation challenge: “We both had accommodation problem so we had to rent a room and started living together. We both attended University of Lagos, while I did a Diploma, he went in for a Degree.
In 2010 he travelled to Portugal, three months after he brought me in. In 2011, we got married at the Ikoyi Registry.”
When asked if she feels threatened by Aruna’s success, she said: “I put everything into God’s hand it is not easy but you have to be prayerful as a wife and also endure. If you can’t endure, you can’t have a happy home .”
Ganiyat described her husband as being responsible: “He has been a good husband, his kids love him. . I call him when he annoys me and whenever he says sorry everything dies there,” she stated.
