June 13, (THEWILL)- One of Nigeria’s best chances of a medal at the XXXLL Olympiad in Tokyo Japan is also one of Africa’s best table tennis exports. He is Nigeria’s own Quadri Aruna. The professional, who excels in a competition dominated by Asians, is heading to his third Summer Olympic Games with a determination to improve on his remarkably impressive 2016 run in Rio de Janeiro.
The 32-year-old will go to Tokyo ranked 21st in the world and the highest ranked African in the game. In fact, he qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021 by virtue of his current ranking.
In his first appearance at the Olympic Games, which was the 2012 London Summer Games, Aruna represented Nigeria at the table tennis men’s single event. He defeated Spain’s Carlos Machado 4-2 before bowing out in the second round to Turkey’s Bora Vang by 4-2. It was a learning experience for him at the biggest sporting stage in the world. It was his style to take the lessons forward and that was what he did.
In the 2016 Games, it was obvious that Aruna had learnt a lot. He posted the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating Chuang in a 4-0 flawless thumping without losing a single set. Yet, there was more.
In the third round, Aruna faced renowned German player Timo Boll, who as of June 2019 was ranked 6th in the world. In that match, Boll came undone by the Nigerian in a 4-2 victory
The win earned Aruna a quarter-final berth against the tournament’s number one seed, China’s Ma Long, who was the Olympic and world champion at the time. Yet, despite the perceived wide gulf in class between both players, Aruna gave Long a fight to remember that created an entertaining scene of memorable lengthy rallies that went viral online. Long eventually swept Aruna off his feet by seeing him off to a non-responsive 4-0 defeat, an evidence of Long’s status at the time.
Those victories and the loss to Long established Aruna as a force to be reckoned with on the African table tennis scene and he was honoured across the world.
His steady rise is attributed to the core principles of self-discipline, dedication, passion, perseverance and resilience that are to stay at the top in a competitive sport, such as table tennis. This athlete, who won a silver medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and remains unbeatable in the men’s singles event in Africa, has not stopped being a source of inspiration for Africans globally.
Underneath Aruna’s sporting image lies a humble man who has never forgotten his roots in Oyo State and who remembers the inspiration and support from older table tennis stars, such as Segun Toriola. In fact, there is only a few up-and-coming table tennis prospects in Nigeria that have not benefitted from him in one way or another.
Aruna’s contributions to the development of table tennis in Nigeria and Africa, as well as his donations to charity are pointers to his generosity. They also sum exemplify the high sense of responsibility that he has brought to bear on the next generation of table tennis players on the continent that he has continued to inspire.
The tennis star is virtually unrivalled when it comes to donating equipment and kit to the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation as well as contributing to the upkeep pf children in orphanages. In 2020, he donated equipment worth nearly 1,400 euros (about $1,700) to two Nigerian para-table tennis players, who will make their Paralympic Games debut in Tokyo for Team Nigeria.
This year, he has sponsored equipment for six table tennis players in Nigeria for 12 months, including under-13 world numero uno, Musa Mustapha, to keep them in competitive shape.
The basis of these acts cannot be removed from his personal experience. “I have achieved what I have through hard work and self-confidence. I believe they can always do it. Nothing is impossible.
“For the ones who are getting support, I tell them that nobody supported me when I was going up. So they are going to be better than me,” he once said in an interview held in 2018.
That is why he is often considered to be an ambassador for young athletes. He uses his own life as a good example because in his youth, his mother, who used to be a schoolteacher at the time, often stressed the importance of his studies and why it must come first. Aruna’s initial teacher, Abolarin Oluwole, helped to instill this in him.
Confirming this, Aruna’s mother, Shakirat, said, “There was a time when I had to caution Oluwole (one of his first coaches, Abolarin Oluwole) not to allow table tennis to ruin my son’s studies, not knowing that this is what will bring fame and fortune to him.
“He has been helping the family since he moved to Europe and I can say that he is our breadwinner.”
Aruna’s achievement at the 2016 Olympic Game held in Rio de Janeiro has contributed in no small way to his rising profile. He is quite popular in Nigeria and across Africa where only football stars are celebrated as heroes. His feat against two top-seeded 10 players, Chuang Chih-yuan and Timo Boll, would have gone unnoticed but for the Internet, which made information on the events at Rio accessible to millions of people across the world.
Acknowledging this in 2018, he said, “I was aware the whole world was watching, not just Nigeria and Africa. My performance in Rio really made table tennis more popular in Nigeria. Whenever I am in the airport now many officials recognise me now and on the streets.”
However, Aruna has had a tough time, in terms of competition. Last November, THEWILL reported his loss at the International Table Tennis Federation Men’s World Cup, which served off its first spins on Friday, November 13. He was beaten by his Slovenian opponent, Darko Jorgic.
The 22-year-old Slovenian, ranked 34th at the time, caused a major upset in the final match of the day by eliminating Aruna from the group stages to reach the round of 16 with a 4-2; 11-4, 8-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4 result.
Earlier in March 2021, Aruna could not continue his match at the African Olympic Qualifying tournament in Tunisia as he aggravated an old injury, which forced him to pull out of his final match against Tunisia’s Adam Hmam. The Tunisian was promptly handed the last ticket to Tokyo, as a consequence.
Again, at the World Table Tennis (WTT) championship in Doha, another Olympic qualifying event, Aruna was knocked out in the quarter-finals by world number seven tennis player Yun-Ju Lin of Chinese Taipei. Aruna’s zeal came through, but he lost 3-1 (8-11, 9-11, 17-15, 9-11) to the more fancied and better-ranked Lin.
Notwithstanding the loss, he set a record in Doha as the first African to play in the quarter-finals stage of the WTT as he overcame the newly-crowned Indian national champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 3-0 (11-7,11-4, 11-8) and also defeated Portugal’s Joao Geraldo 3-2 (12-10, 12-10, 4-11, 11-6) before losing to Lin.
His ranking came handy in the end to give him a path into the Games as a wild card. As the Tokyo Games beckon, this African pioneer has his sights set on breaking more barriers on the table. In his words: “Like every athlete, I want to do better than I have done before. I want better results in Tokyo. I am always thinking about it.”
The whole country, and by extension the entire continent, are behind him and will be cheering him on to do exploits, to break records and to bring home the medal that his dedication to his game and the love of his heart deserves.
About the Author
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.
