Olalekan Okusan, Tunis, Tunisia
ARUNA Quadri, and three other Nigerians competing in the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tunis, Tunisia are getting closer to picking their tickets to the Tokyo 2020 Games after the first round of matches.
From the matches played so far, Quadri replicated the feat he achieved at the just concluded ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup where he was unbeaten in their group stages of the competition.
And again in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the Oyo State-born star showed his class with victories over Kenya’s Josiah Wandera and Congo Brazzaville’s Christ Bienatiki while Olajide Omotayo also inflicted defeat on Ghana’s Derek Abrefa and Djibouti’s Ahmed Djamal.
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In the women’s event, Offiong Edem and Olufunke Oshonaike are also getting closer to qualification slots as they recorded victories in their group matches of the first stage.
According to the format of play, 16 players from the men’s group matches advance to the second stage and they are expected to continue battling one another with eight progressing to the final round where four will finally emerge as qualifiers for the Olympic Games.
For the women’s event, eight players from the 16 that started the campaign have moved to the second round while they will be drawn into two groups of four in each group.
The top two from each group will book their spots at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
However, Tunisia’s sensation, Fadwa Garci has said that she would not disappoint in her quest to become the second Tunisian female table tennis star to feature at the Olympic Games after Safa Saidani featured at Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
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