Nigeria’s top-ranked Table tennis player, Aruna Quadri was yesterday eliminated from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Cup ongoing at Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos by his arch-rival Omar Assar of Egypt.
Quadri was beaten in a keenly-contested semi-final contest.
Although Quadri won the 3rd set to trail Assar 2-1 and looked like staging a comeback, the Egyptian got the psychological edge winning the 4th set, going on to beat Quadri 4-1(11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7, 11-3) to progress to the final of mens singles.
Quadri had advanced to the semi-final after giving it all to overcome Senegals Ibrahima Diaw 4-3 while Assar avoided another defeat against Nigerias Olajide Omotayo as the Egyptian star avenged his 2-3 loss in the Club Championship with a convincing 4-2 win.
It is interesting to note that despite the huge followership he commands, Quadri has never beaten Assar in Lagos in his career.
The ITTF Africa Cup is one of the biggest table tennis event on the continent.
Source: Vanguard newspaper
