Africa’s number one male Table Tennis player, Aruna Quadri was shown the exist door at the World Table Tennis [WTT] championship in Doha on Friday.
Quadri, ranked 21st in the world was knocked out in the quarter final by Yun-Ju Lin of Chinese Taipei who was ranked seventh in the world.
Quadri gave his best but his best was not enough to see him through in a closed contest which he lost 3-1 (8-11, 9-11, 17-15, 9-11) to set a record being the first African to play in the quarter of WTT.
On his way to Quarter final, he defeated the newly-crowned Indian national champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-8) in the first round of the men’s singles at the WTT Contender Series.
He also defeats Portugal’s Joao Geraldo 3-2 (12-10, 12-10, 4-11, 11-6) before he bowed out of the $200,000 prize-money tournament.
The Nigerian will be hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games during the World Singles Qualification Tournament at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar between 14-17 March 2021.
Three spots will be available for qualification in stage one in the men’s singles qualification tournament with entries to be split into three knockout rounds, starting from the round of 32, with the winner of each knockout round qualifying for the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.
Meanwhile, The Nigerian trio of Funke Oshonaike, Olajide Omotayo and Offiong Edem have booked a place at the Tokyo Olympics coming later this year.
