Aruna Akinade Quadri, Nigeria’s ping pong king, has won the ITTF-Africa Senior Championships holding in Algiers, Algeria.
For the third straight time, Quadri (ranked 15th in the World & 1st in Africa) was meeting his nemesis, Egypt’s Omar Assar (ranked 21st in the World & 2nd in Africa) in the final of the ITTF Senior Championships.
Quadri lost to Assar in the final at Agadir 2016 and lost (1-4) in the final to the Egyptian in Yaounde 2021.
Quadri Aruna has won the Africa Championship title in the most spectacular fashion by completing a comeback from 0-2 down to 4-3 over arch-rival Omar Assar from Egypt.
En-route the final:
Quadri:
-defeated Cameroon’s Yiane Batix (4-1) in the Round of 32.
-defeated Egypt’s Mohammed (4-0) in the Round of 16.
-defeated Egypt’s Khalid (4-1) in the Q/finals
-defeated Compatriot, Mati Taiwo in the S/final: (4-0) 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 14-12.
Nigeria’s third representative, Olajide Omotayo was defeated (2-4) by eventual finalist, Omar Assar in the Q/finals.
Quadri came from 0-2 down to win the final. Results below:
Quadri-Assar (4-3): (8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11, 14-12)
This will be Quadri’s second African Senior Championship after beating Ahmed Saleh (4-1) in Port Louis in 2018.
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