The Nation Newspaper

Tag: quadri

  • Commonwealth Games: Club engagement stops Quadri

    Following the second leg match of Sporting club in the ETTU Champions League, Aruna Quadri will be the last member of the table tennis team to arrive for the 2018 Commonwealth Games holding in Gold Coast, Australia.

    Quadri, who is one of the key players in Sporting of Portugal, will be leading his team away to a Russian side in the second leg of the Champions League. Despite losing the first leg 0-3 to the defending champion, Sporting is hoping for an upset in Moscow when both sides clash on April 6.

    With this development, the Nigerian table tennis team will be without the star player as they begin campaign in the team event of the championship on April 5.

    However, England and Singapore have expressed their intention to topple Nigeria and India when the table tennis event serves off on April 5.

    England captain, Paul Drinkhall believes they are primed to dominate Nigeria and others in Gold Coast.  “We are going to Australia to show what we can do and we are aware of the quality of Nigeria, Singapore and India. We believe we can do our best this year and dominate the event,” he said.

  • Ahead XXI Commonwealth Games: Quadri, Omotayo intensify preparation with German Open

    As part of their build up to the XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Aruna Quadri and Olajide Omotayo are currently in Bremen, Germany for the 2018 ITTF World Tour tagged German Open.

    Quadri, ranked 22 in the world will begin his campaign from the qualifying round in Group Three alongside Turkey’s Ahmed Li and Bulgaria’s Philipp Floritz in his quest for a place in the main draw of the men’s singles.

    Also Commonwealth Games debutant – Omotayo will have his hands full when he battles Japan’s Masaki Yoshida and Hungary’s Bence Majoros in Group four.

    Quadri’s first group match on table three today will be against the Bulgarian, while his final group match against the Turkish star will be tomorrow on table three as well.

    Unlike Quadri, Omotayo will play his two group matches today on table four against the Hungarian and Japanese in his quest to make it to the knockout stage of the preliminary round.

    In the doubles, Quadri will continue his partnership with Egypt’s Omar Assar as they start their campaign from the preliminary round tomorrow against Hungarian stars.

    Another Nigerian on duty at the German Open is Dapo Kolawole who has been drawn against players from India, France and Argentina.

  • I was just unlucky against Assar, says Quadri

    I was just unlucky against Assar, says Quadri

    After a narrow loss in the final of the 2018 ITTF, Africa Top 16 Cup, Aruna Quadri has praised the heroic performance of Egypt’s Omar Assar.

    He however said  that the Egyptian was lucky to have won the title.

    Quadri who rallied from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 and only to lose the seventh game in keenly contested tie told NationSport that it was obvious that the match would have gone either way but said that he gave his best in the tournament.

    “I think I am happy with my performance because I know that it is not every time you have to win. You win some and you lose some but I must commend myself for making it to the final and this goes to show that I performed well. The final was indeed an epic one because Assar and I really gave our best. It was unfortunate I had to lose having come from the back to level up the match. As usual I will have to redouble my efforts again,” he said.

    Quadri however urged government to support other sports rather than focus solely on football.

    “I am just going to appeal to those in charge of sports in Nigeria to give sport like table tennis the needed support rather than spending the whole tax-payers money on football. It is unfortunate that most African nations never considered other sports and when it comes to multi-sports tournament they will be expecting the athletes to perform magic with less support,” he lamented.

    As part of his build up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Quadri on Sunday departed Kenya to Qatar for the second ITTF World Tour in 2018.

    The Portugal-based star is expected to contest for honours against the array of stars already confirmed for the mouth-watering tournament holding in Doha from Tuesday March 5.

  • ITTF World Ranking: Quadri remains in top 25

    ITTF World Ranking: Quadri remains in top 25

    • As Oshonaike, others rise

    Despite not making beyond the first round at the ITTF World Cup coupled with his second place finish at the last Africa Senior Championships, Aruna Quadri maintains his 25th spot in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world ranking released at the weekend.

    Also in the latest November world ranking, African women’s singles champion, Olufunke Oshonaike made a giant stride in the world rating as the Germany-based star rose to 206 from 253 as the highest ranked Nigerian female player in the world.

    Seven-time Olympian, Segun Toriola also moved up the ranking as the former African champion is now rated 101 from 109 where he was in October. Toriola maintained his place as the third highest ranked African player in the world.

    Bode Abiodun also moved from 183 to 175 in the ranking while Azeez Jamiu, Olajide Omotayo and Nurudeen Hassan made entries into the ranking list.

  • Toriola, Quadri retain men’s doubles title

    Toriola, Quadri retain men’s doubles title

    Having watched Egypt claimed three titles ahead of them in the ITTF Africa Senior Championships, Nigeria showed their quality in the men’s doubles as the pair of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola retained the men’s doubles title.

    Pairing for the first time in a major championship, the partnership of Quadri and Toriola conquered Egyptian teams to hold on to the title won in 2015 by Aruna Quadri and Kazeem Makanjuola.

    The Nigerian duo defeated ageing Egyptians – El-Sayed Lashin and Ahmed Saleh 4-2 to give Nigeria its first gold medal in the one-week championship holding in Agadir, Morocco.

    An elated Toriola said: “For us winning this title is very good because I had said earlier that it is a must for us to win the doubles title. But I must also tell you that it was not an easy match because the match was strange to us in all departments. Also our opponents are very experienced players and clever, so we are so excited claiming the first gold medal for Nigeria in this competition.”

  • ITTF World Cup: Quadri draws Singaporeans, Swedes in round one

    ITTF World Cup: Quadri draws Singaporeans, Swedes in round one

    Africa and Nigeria’s flagbearer at the 2016 ITTF World Cup, Aruna Quadri was handed a tricky draw in the first round of the competition as the African champion will battle for qualification against Singapore’s Ning Gao and Sweden’s Par Gerell.

    In the draw conducted yesterday, 12 players will battle for eight slots in the second round where they are expected to battle against the top eight seeded players.

    A confident Quadri told Sportinglife that he would give his best as his opponents are tough nuts to crack.

    “My opponents are not pushovers as they are champions in their own right. I respect them but I am not under any kind of pressure to play in Germany again because I am now getting used to playing under pressure and as a matter of fact I am going to Germany to enjoy myself without any kind of pressure. Statistics showed that I am not one of the favourites for the podium finish but similarly I am not really going to be playing without confidence as I always believe strongly in my capability. I am praying for a favourable draw that will favour me and if God answers my prayer to be on a good side of the draw, I believe that surprising the world more than I have done in the past is possible,” he said.

    Quadri’s debut at the tournament was in 2009 and he is expected to compete against top 19 players across the globe including world’s number two and three, China’s Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong as well as Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who is the current European champion ranked sixth in the world.

  • Quadri leads Jura Morez’s relegation battle

    Quadri leads Jura Morez’s relegation battle

    With four matches to the end of the French Table Tennis Premier League, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri will tomorrow lead Jura Morez battle to escape relegation in the European elite league.

    Occupying seventh place in the 10-team league, Jura Morez garnered 24points from 14 matches with five wins and nine defeats, the battle to remain in the elite division of the lucrative French League will commence tomorrow away to SPO ROUEN, a team which is also fighting to escape the drop.

    In their first meeting, it was Jura Morez that claimed the victory at home with Quadri recording an emphatic wins over Ruiwu Tan and  Jesus Cantero Juncal in their 4-2 triumph.

    Having joined Jura Morez from Portugal, Quadri will be the cynosure of all eyes in the four matches as the 2014 ITTF Star Player has continued to inspire the team this season while his presence has also motivated his teammates.

    In their last league match against Garde Du Voeu Hennebont in March, it was Quadri that marshaled Jura Morez 4-2 win after defeating highly-rated Greek, Kalinikos Kreanga and Frenchman, Quentin Robinot.

    Sportinglife leant that the management of the Jura Morez has given the Quadri and his teammates an ultimatum to win their matches as they have vowed to disband the team, if they fails to beat the relegation battle.

    “We are still topping in the Portuguese league and we have remained unbeaten this season. But in France, we are going to fight well to remain in the Premier League next season. I need to be at my best and hoping that my teammates will also work hard so that we can be among the teams that will campaign in the top division next season. I must also admit that it won’t be easy because the gap between us and the other lower teams is not much. So we need to win at least three out of the four matches to escape being relegated,” Quadri said.

  • Quadri leads Nigeria’s rise in ITTF ranking

    Quadri leads Nigeria’s rise in ITTF ranking

    • Egypt below Nigeria in team rating

    Aruna Quadri made another giant stride in the latest ITTF ranking to lead Nigeria’s rise in the world rating released by the world table tennis ruling body.

    Quadri remains the best player from the continent for the second time in the last two months, as the 2014 ITTF Star Player improved his world rating from 30 to 29 in the April ranking in the men.

    Also, former African champion and intending seventh time Olympian, Segun Toriola gains more points to move to 109 from 117, while Bode Abiodun also improved to 179 from 185.

    However, former African champion and Egyptian inspirational star, Omar Assar continued to slide in the world rating as the 2015 African Games champion dropped from 36 to 37 in the latest rating.

    In the women rating, Egypt’s Dina Meshref continued to lead the continent despite dropping from 97 to 98.

    The highest rated female Nigerian player is Edem Offiong who remains fourth in the continent despite improving from 242 to 230 in the world, while Olufunke Oshonaike who was ranked 235 has been taken off the ranking due to inactivity in the last six months. In the Olympic Team ranking, Nigeria continued to dominate Egypt in the men’s rating despiting dropping from 25 to 26 in the world.

    Egypt were unmoved in the ranking as they are still rooted in the 32nd place in the world.

    In the women team rating, Egypt is still ahead of Nigeria having occupied 31 in the world while Nigeria is 40th.

  • Quadri returns to top 30 in the world

    Quadri returns to top 30 in the world

    Nigeria’s Aruna  Quadri’s performance at the ITTF World Team Championship in Malaysia yielded for the 2014 ITTF Star Player as the Nigerian is now ranked 30 in the world ahead of his continental rival – Egypt’s Omar Assar.

    According to the March 2016 ranking released today by the world table tennis ruling body, Quadri who was ranked 37 in February garnered 58points from his performance at the ITTF Top 16 Cup as well as ITTF World Team Championship where he only lost to India’s Sharath Achanta.

    Again, Quadri has reclaimed his status as the highest ranked African player in the world displacing Egypt’s Omar Assar who dominated the continent throughout 2015.

    The ranking was released at the end of the ITTF World Team Championship with Egypt’s Assar who lost two matches in Malaysia dropped to 36 from 33.

    Also, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola who inspired the team in Malaysia returned emphatically to the ranking to become the third rated African player in the world. Toriola, who will be attending his seventh Olympics in Rio, Brazil this year is rated 116 in the world while Bode Abiodun who has continued to rise in the ranking moved from 213 to 185 to become the sixth ranked African player behind Egypt’s duo of El-Sayed Lashin and Mohammed El-Beiali, who are both ranked 135 and 162 respectively.

    This development has now put Nigeria ahead of Egypt in terms of the men’s team event qualification for the Olympic Games.

    According to President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, the May ranking of the three top players in Nigeria and Egypt will decide the eventual team that will qualify for the men’s team event of the Rio Olympic Games.

    “ITTF ranking in March might change the situation slightly but it will not be the final as we should also await the ranking list of April 2016 after the results of the Kuwait Open & Qatar Open, then finally the ranking list of May 2016 after the results of Poland Open.”

  • ITTF World Team Championship: It was tough beating Slovakia, Quadri admits

    ITTF World Team Championship: It was tough beating Slovakia, Quadri admits

    Aruna Quadri was given a tough time by Slovakia’s duo of Lubomir Pistej and Peter Sereda in the fourth round match of the ongoing ITTF World Team Championships but the Nigerian prevailed to record another 3-1 in the competition.

    A tired Quadri told SportingLife after the encounter that having played three matches before the Slovakia encounter, the tie against the European giant took a lot from him and his teammates.

    “I want to say that this is our toughest match in this competition because our opponents played an awkward style which most times confused us. We knew it was not going to be easy against this Slovak having played some of them in previous competitions. My first opponent, Peter Sereda is a good player because I had played against him before. His style of play is always very difficult for me to play against. But I managed to cope. But the second player, Lubomir Pistej was more difficult because his forehand is always with topspin, while his flipping was very difficult to return. I am happy we won and I hope we can continue like this,” he said.

    Quadri, who has not lost any match since the competition began on Sunday, is optimistic that Nigeria can make it to the elite division. “I am confident that with the way we are playing we can make it. It is possible but it is also difficult but we will give it a shot and hopefully we can make it to the Championship division,” he said.