TheCable

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.

Quadri Aruna has won the Africa Championship title in the most spectacular fashion by completing a comeback from 0-2 down to 4-3 over arch-rival Omar Assar 🇪🇬#ITTFAChamps22 pic.twitter.com/wSimTCV8KN

— ITTF-Africa (@ITTFAfrica) September 9, 2022

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.