Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna on Wednesday exited the ITTF World Cups Macao 2024 after losing 3-1 to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas in the deciding match of Group 15 of the men’s singles even as Egypt’s Omar Assar remains the only African to progress to the second round of the tournament.
Despite starting well in Group 15, Aruna failed to match the European southpaw. The first game was a close contest but Aruna surrendered at 12-10 while the second game panned out like the first as the Nigerian lost 11-9.
There was a ray of hope for Aruna in the third game, even when Freitas led from the start and the Nigerian closed the lead at 9-8 only to lose at 11-9 to confirm the qualification of the Portuguese.
The fourth game was just a formality, won 11-3 by Aruna.
The defeat confirmed Aruna’s exit from the tournament despite having the record of being the best African in the tournament, having reached the quarterfinals in 2014 in Germany.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Omar Assar progressed to the second round of the tournament after beating Swedish super star Truls Moregard in the final group 16 match .
Assar was at his very best against the Swedish national champion with a commanding display to beat the European star at 3-1 (15-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5) and this captivated fans at the Galaxy Arena.
The Egyptian had on Monday beat Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan 4-0 to emerge as the winner of Group 16 and secure his place in the second stage (knockout) of the $1 million prize money championship.
Also, African Champion Hana Goda was knocked out of the women’s event after losing 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) to Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz in the final group match after losing 3-1 in her group opener to Portugal’s Fu Yu.
Egypt’s trio of Mohamed El-Beiali, Yousra Helmy, and Mariam Alhodaby also exited the tournament, while Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou lost all her group matches to bow out of the competition.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
