September 11, (THEWILL) – Quadri Aruna of Nigeria, has recaptured the African men’s table tennis championship after a few years of playing second fiddle to his bitter rival, Egyptian Omar Assar.
Aruna has seen Assar rule the scene since 2018, but on Friday at the Algiers’ continental finals, the Nigerian made a breakthrough to knock the Egyptian off the lofty perch to become the new African Men’s Champion.
At the ITTF African Senior Championships, neither player was really put to the test until the championship match, when they both turned in their greatest performances. Despite being two sets down in Friday’s dramatic final, Aruna demonstrated why he is so highly considered in tennis by mustering a determined fightback.
In the end, the Nigerian supplied a set of effective shots, elevated his service game and kept the ball on the table to defeat the Egyptian and win 4-3 and lift his first continental trophy since 2018. The final result was 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11, 14-12.
The delighted Aruna praised his opponent for a fantastic performance while describing the tie as energy-sapping.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
