By Olalekan Okusan
Olajide Omotayo failed to make it beyond the first stage of the preliminary round of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender taking place in Doha, Qatar.
Just as Quadri Aruna, a quarterfinalist in the WTT Contender Series has been given a bye to the second round of the men’s singles.
Pitched against Portugal’s Joao Geraldo in the men’s singles, Omotayo who made it to the second stage of the preliminary round of WTT Contender Series, played his heart out against the Portuguese who was beaten by Aruna in the last 16 of the WTT Contender Series last week.
It was as though Omotayo was going to take his Portuguese counterpart to the cleaner after winning the first game 11-8 only for his opponent to rally to 11-4 win the second game.
Again Omotayo restored his lead with a close 14-12 win in the third game but Geraldo levelled up in the fourth game at 11-3 and won the decisive fifth set 11-8 to complete a 3-2 victory over the Nigerian.
Meanwhile, the performance of Aruna in the WTT Contender Series continued to be applauded across Africa with the President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy praising the Nigerian for putting Africa on the world map with his performance against some of the best players in the world.
“I am particularly impressed with what Aruna achieved in the WTT Contender Series being the first official WTT tournament and an African is getting to the quarterfinal amidst array of stars that featured in the competition. He was also unlucky in the quarterfinal against the Asian star. This is another good outing from Aruna whose performance would continue to inspire African players and open doors for them to play professionally in Europe. I hope and believe he can do well again in the WTT Star Contender this week,” the ATT boss said.
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