Quadri Bows Out Gallantly At Quarter-Final Stage Of Liebherr Men’s World Cup In Germany

ITTF

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has crashed out at the quarter-final stage of the Liebherr Men’s World Cup holding in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Quadri Seeded 17 in this tournament lost to the most successful Table Tennis Player on the Planet China’s Zhang Jike, who is seeded No.2 and he is also the reigning Olympic and World champion.

Quadri was however not disgraced as he stretched the bout to six games (6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8).

After the match Zhang Jike said:“The match was very competitive; Quadri Aruna is a good player”, said Zhang Jike. “When he won the first game I did not understand his style but when we got into the second game I adapted and I started to win.”

Aruna QUADRI photo Photo credit: Ina Fassbender/ITTF

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri said: “It was the first time I have played against a Chinese player and it was not one-sided”, added Aruna Quadri. “It is also a dream come true for me in this competition; beating three top players in a row is good for my career, I will continue to work hard with what I have been able to achieve at this World Cup.”

Quadri had earlier defeated no.12 seed Kenta Matsudaira from Japan (11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-2, 13-11) and no.14 seed Alexander Shibaev of Russia (11-6, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8) on the opening day of play to secure first place in his group.

QUADRI Shocks Stars At ITTF Men’s World Cup

Aruna QUADRI (NGR) has shocked the table tennis world by recording two stunning upsets on the opening day of the LIEBHERR 2014 ITTF Men’s World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The 26-year-old, who was ranked as low as 237 at the start of the year, beat world number 27 Kenta MATSUDAIRA of Japan and world number 37 Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia to progress to the final 16.

The Nigerian star-in-the-making stated: “I never thought I will progress to the next round because I was going to play against top rated players who are ranked higher than me. So if I lose, I had nothing to lose but if I win it is a big thing for me. I am ready to face any player because they will be under pressure as they are ranked better than I do. I am hoping for another upset.”

Aruna QUADRI photo Photo credit: Ina Fassbender/ITTF

QUADRI will now take on TANG Peng (HKG) in the round of 16, and if he wins that, a dream quarter-final match up with the Olympic and World Champion China’s ZHANG Jike. When asked about these matches, the current world number 73 stated:

“For me nothing is impossible. Sometimes you see a big moment of history, maybe only once in 20 years. Maybe tomorrow could be my history making moment.”

14-year-old Kanak JHA of USA had the crowd on their feet in his first match, when he had doubles World Champion CHEN Chien-An down one game to nil. However it was not to be as he lost the match 4-1, as well as his next match, which knocked him out of the event.

Tomorrow, the top eight seeds come out to play the eight players who qualified from today’s group stage.

Victorious Portuguese teammates from the recent European Team Championships, Tiago APOLONIA and Marcos FREITAS will become rivals, as they drew each other in their round-of-16 clash.

The Chinese Taipei World Champions doubles pair of CHEN Chien-An and CHUANG Chih-Yuan, will also have the strange feeling of playing against each other at a major event, as the play continues tomorrow.