By Olalekan Okusan
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna yesterday at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Series taking place in Doha, Qatar, became the first African to qualify for the quarterfinal of the prestigious event after a hard-fought win over Portugal’s Joao Geraldo.
Incidentally, Geraldo who is a familiar face with Aruna having trained together in Portugal for several years was at his best against the highest ranked African player.
Both players gave their best with no clear dominance but it was the Portuguese that won the first game at 12-10. In his usual style, Aruna returned to the table and fired up to level up with an identical 12-10 win in the second game. The third game started in favour of the Portuguese who dominated at 8-4 but Aruna overtook him to win the tie at 12-10.
Aruna then failed to raise his game in the fourth game with the Portuguese winning 11-4 but fought well to win the decider 11-6for an overall 3-2 win to qualify for the quarterfinal stage against the most dangerous teenage player in the world, Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Ju Lin.
Aruna had twice lost to Lin in their previous two encounters but the Nigerian will be aiming to halt his dominance today in Doha.
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