BY Idris Shehu
Aruna Quadri has 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.
The 34-year-old Nigerian came back from two sets down to brush off his fierce rival and register a 4-3 win in a nerve-wracking match which took place on Friday in Algiers, Algeria.
Last year, Assar had 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 Nigerian after he relinquished the first two sets 11-8 and 11-9 to the Egyptian.
He wrestled the third set 11-8 but surrendered the fourth 11-7. The African number one then completely swept the remaining sets to win the biggest laurel in a competition that has been barren for Nigeria heretofore.
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.
The Nigerian teenager 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 and women’s team events, defeating Algeria and Tunisia respectively.
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