The poster-boy of Nigerian table tennis, Quadri Aruna, displayed a remarkable performance yesterday by pulling a stunning 3-2 comeback victory against Japan’s No. 5 seed, Tomokazu Harimoto, on the opening day of the WTT Champions Frankfurt 2024.
Aruna, ranked 21st in the world, began convincingly but fell by conceding, 7-11 and 11-13 in the first two sets, igniting hope for the Japanese to secure the victory.
Despite leading after the first two sets, Harimoto’s dominance met stiff resilience as the African most ranked table tennis player deployed tactical changes to control the game.
Aruna posed with confidence, pulled back to take the third set 11-5 thereby forcing a decider.
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In the last two sets; Aruna firmly dominated with fast precision, immensely dispensing his service and limiting his errors to produce 14-12 and 11-3 to emerge winner.
His victory elicited cheers from fans at the Süwag Energie Arena.
The victory also earned him a place in the round of 16 and his second-ever win at the WTT Champions level, following his first win in Montpellier last week.
Aruna will continue to blaze a trail for African table tennis on the global stage in the round of 16, as he faces the winner between Spain’s Alvaro Robles and Germany’s Richardo Walther.
However, 2024 African Champion Omar Assar of Egypt failed to go beyond the first round of the Men’s Singles after losing to Sweden’s Anton Kallberg 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-3).
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