Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri who is expected to begin his campaign today in the second round of the Men’s singles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender taking place in Doha, Qatar has been pitched against Japan’s Masataka Morizono.
Quadri who had a bye to the second round following his quarterfinal finish at the WTT Contender will be meeting the Japanese for the third time in the last six years.
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In their first meeting at the 2014 Spanish Open, the Japanese walloped Quadri 4-0 while in their second meeting at the 2015 Czech Open, Quadri triumphed with a 4-1 win.
Both players will be aiming to advance to the last 16 where any one of them may face Japanese sensation Harimoto Tamakasu in the round of 16.
To set up a second round (round of 32) clash against Quadri, the world 48th ranked Japanese defeated Swedish star Jon Persson 3-1 in the first round match.
Olajide Omotayo failed to make it beyond the first stage of the preliminary round of the WTT when he was drawn against Portugal’s Joao Geraldo in the second stage of the preliminary round. 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 Quadri in the last 16 of the WTT Contender Series last week.
However, Omar Assar was twice unlucky in his quest to record his first win at the WTT tournament as he was edged out in a closed contest by Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko 3-2 (11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7) in the first round of the men’s singles.
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