Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna, Wednesday, put up a world class performance to beat newly crowned Indian national champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 3-0 in a first round tie at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East Hub taking place in Doha.
It was the first meeting between the two superstars but it was Aruna that led the tie winning 11-7, while in the second game it was Aruna all through with another convincing 11-4 win while he edged on 11-8 in the third game to complete the 3-0 rout of his opponent.
“I am happy because everything worked well for me in the match. I had taken my time to study his game and everything I picked worked well for me in the encounter. I am looking forward to the next match and I hope to approach every match with all seriousness,” Aruna said after the match.
With this win, Aruna will now face a familiar face in Portugal’s Joao Geraldo who walked over Yang Wang after the Slovak was disqualified for breaking COVID-19 protocols put in place by the organisers.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, it was not a good outing for six-time African women champion, Dina Meshref of Egypt as she was beaten by Korea Republic’s Hyowon Suh 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5).
Meshref and Omar Assar are still in the race in the mixed doubles event of the championship.
The $200,000 prize money WTT Star Contender events will take place over six days and WTT Contender events will deliver four days of action, with each event featuring men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles competitions.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
