Aruna Quadri has won his second International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African championship title.
Gatekeepers News reports that the 34-year-old defeated Egypt’s Omar Assar to clinch his second continental title in the men’s singles of the 2022 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African championship.
Quadri came back from two sets down to outshine his fierce rival and register a 4-3 win in a nerve-wracking match that took place on Friday in Algiers, Algeria.
In 2021, Assar stopped Quadri’s bid to retain the title he won in Mauritius in 2018 with a sweeping 4-1 victory in Yaounde, Cameroon.
It was almost deja vu for the Quadri after he lost the first two sets 11-8 and 11-9 to the Assar.
Although the African number one wrestled the third set 11-8, he surrendered the fourth 11-7. Nigeria then completely swept the remaining sets to win the biggest laurel in a competition that has been barren for Nigeria heretofore.
In other news, Taiwo Mati, Africa’s U-19 champion, produced one of the biggest upsets in the championship after defeating Ahmed Saleh, Africa’s number 3 in the men’s singles quarter-final.
Matt was, however, brought back to earth by Quadri who steamrolled him in the semi-finals.
In the women’s singles, Dina Meshref defeated Yousra Helmy to claim her third continental crown. She beat her compatriot 4-0 in the final.
Egypt won both the men’s and women’s team events, defeating Algeria and Tunisia respectively.
