Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri was in superb form on Thursday at the ongoing ITTF World Tour tagged Croatia Open as the Oyo State-born athlete won his first round matches in the men’s singles and doubles event of the five-day tournament.
Having seeded number five in the singles, Aruna Quadri wasted no time in dismissing France’s Alexandre Cassin 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 to secure his place in the second round of the $35,000 prize money tournament holding in Zagreb.
Aruna Quadri, credit ITTFMEDIA
In men’s doubles, Quadri partnered Portugal’s Andre Silva to defeat Bulgaria’s Denislav Kodjabashev and Petyo Krastev 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8 to secure their place in the quarterfinal.
They are expected to tackle Poland’s Jakub Dyjas and Konrad Kulpa in one of the quarterfinal matches of the championship.
The only other African player in the championship, Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo has been shown the exit in the preliminary round of the men’s singles.
In an effort to improve his game as well as to rub shoulders with the world’s best, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has signed for a French Club in the lucrative France Table Tennis Federation (FTTF)-organised elite league.
Quadri, who started his professional career in Portugal in 2010 and thrice named the best player in the Portuguese League, will play for Jura Morez TT next season.
Before joining GD Toledos two years ago, Quadri started with AR Novelense and with the two Portuguese clubs he won the league, super cup and the Mediterranean trophy.
Aruna Quadri with former GD Toledos teammates after winning the Portuguese Cup title
Being one of the best leagues in the world, the French league has some of the world’s best players like World number 10 and Portugal’s Marcos Freitas plying their trade in the league.
Jura Morez TT emerged champions during the 2013/2014 season in Pro B to gain promotion to the top division and they retained their place in the elite league where Quadri will be playing his trade.
The deal was formally concluded during a recent trip by Quadri to Paris, where he met with the management of the team and also used the opportunity to inspect the club facilities.
Quadri was well received by the management of the club led by its chairman and Secretary, G. Philippe and M. Gilles.
With this development, Quadri will join his compatriot and Africa’s most decorated player, Segun Toriola who has been plying his trade in the French league for years.
Meanwhile, Quadri will return to the ITTF World Tour this week in Zagreb, when he takes part in the Croatia Open.
Quadri and Mawussi Agbetoglo are Africa’s representatives at the five-day tournament and the Oyo State-born athlete will partner Portugal’s Andre Silva in the men’s doubles event, which serves off Tuesday May 19.
The Multiple Award winning table tennis player as also recently signed an improved deal with Germany-based table tennis kit giants JOOLA. This event took place in Frankfurt recently.
Quadri Aruna (left) with JOOLA Managing Director, Michael Bachtler during the signing of an improved contract with the Germany-based kit giant in Frankfurt…recently
Quadri is pictured here with JOOLA Managing Director, Michael Bachtler during the signing of an improved contract with the JOOLA
Winner International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Men’s Under21 Shagdy Magdy of Egypt
The Round of 16, Quarter Finals and Semi-finals of games (Singles & Doubles) went down today at the Dr.Molade Okoya Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
There were lots exciting moments to savour as Table Tennis supporters from far and wide came to watch the best players in Africa and in the world do their thing.
Nigerian Athletes have proven their worth as Ojo Onaolapo, Aruna Quadri, Funke Oshonaike and Edem Effiong have all made it to the semi-finals in the singles event.
The future also look good for Nigeria as far as table tennis is concerned as we saw a scintillating performance from Hassan Nurudeen who seems to be getting better as the day goes by and who might end up winning the U-21 title next year.
Dina Meshref at the International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Togo
The Foreign players have also put up fine displays in this tournament like Jieni Shao, Dina Meshref, Andre Silva, El-Belaili Mohammed.
The draws for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, Lagos Open hold on Monday March 9, as 12-man Egyptian contingent arrive in Lagos.
According to the tournament director, Olaranti Lajide, all the players and teams are expected to be present at the draws holding at the Teslim Balogun Stadium with the matches in the preliminary expected to serve off on Tuesday Match 10.
Egypt’s Assar targets top prize, ready for ITTF Lagos World Tour
“The appointed officials from ITTF have all arrived Today (Sunday) for the event as there will be a short briefing for all the officiating officials and this will be followed by the draw and this will determine how the matches will be played from the preliminary stage. Unlike in the previous editions, where players compete in four events, this year, six events – singles (men and women), doubles (men and women) and U-21 singles (boys and girls) will be jostled for at the five-day tournament with a prize money of $46,000,” he said.
Lajide also disclosed that all the participating teams and players are expected to arrive on Monday while the Egyptian team led by Omar Assar will also arrive in Lagos as well.
“Some of the European players have arrived and we are expecting everybody in Lagos latest by Monday,” he added.
He however, said that the format of the tournament is knockout as players are expected to give their best to make it to the main draw where some players have been seeded.
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Silva Diogo believes his first visit to Africa would be an exciting experience as he set a semifinal target for himself.
Portugal’s Silva Diogo
Diogo, teammate of Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri with GD Toledos in the Portuguese elite league, will partner compatriot, Andre Silva in the men’s doubles believes his maiden visit to Africa would bring good tidings.
“This is my first time in Africa and I am very excited coming to Nigeria to play in the Lagos ITTF World Tour. My expectations for the tournament are to play my best table tennis and try to enjoy to the maximum. I really believe that if I surely play my best, I will achieve good results,” he said.
Following the quality of the players, a sincere Diogo said he would not chew more than he can bite by setting a semifinal target for himself.
“My target in Lagos is to reach the semifinal in men’s singles but I know that it will depend on the draw because I don’t have ranking and I can be drawn against some of the seeded players from the first round. In the doubles’ event, I believe my partnership with Silva has the wherewithal to win the competition,” the southpaw Portuguese star said.
He added: “In my opinion, the best players in this competition are Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna and Egypt’s Omar Assar, but there are more tough players for me like Egypt’s Khalid Assar among others.”
As the highest world-rated players listed for the competition, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Dina Meshref have been seeded the top players in the men and women singles events of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Lagos Open.
In the seeding list released by the world table tennis ruling body, ITTF, Quadri who is rated 32 in the world is seeded number one while his arch-rival and defending champion, Egypt’s Omar Assar is seeded number two while Assar’s compatriot, Mohammed El-Beiali is number three.
The absence of Nigeria’s Segun Toriola may have paved the way for El-Beiali, who accounted for Quadri’s exit in the quarterfinal stage of the ITTF Africa Senior Championships to be seeded number three in the tournament.
Also listed in the top eight seeding list of the men’s singles are Portugal’s Andre Silva, Nigeria’s Boboye Oyeniyan, Egypt’s Khalid Assar, Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo and Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo.
Last year’s runner’s up and ITTF Africa Senior Championship winner, Meshref tops the women’s top four seeding list. Nigeria’s Funke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong are seeded two and three respectively, while Russia’s Irina Ermakova is seeded fourth.
In the U-21 seeding, defending champion in the boys’ category, Nigeria’s Onaolapo is seeded number one, while other players listed in the top four seeding list are Egypt’s duo of Shady Magdy and Mahmoud Fathy as well as Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo.
Nigerian Women’s Team, at the 2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships
Egypt dominated the girls’ U-21 seeding with 20 year-old Meshref topping the seeding list. Her compatriots – Fatma Alaa and Yousra Helmy also made the list while the only Nigerian in the top four seeding list is Funke Hassan.
Meanwhile, over 90 journalists drawn from newspapers, magazine, radio and television stations including two international media, Supersport and Xinhua have been accredited for the championship serving off on March 10 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria.
With the expiration of players’ registration for this year’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Lagos Open, Egypt, Portugal, Russia, seven others as well as host – Nigeria have been confirmed for the five-day tournament holding next month in Lagos.
According to the list of confirmed players by ITTF, the Egyptian team will be led by current ITTF Africa Senior champion, Omar Assar and he will be joined by 12 compatriots including current African women’s champion, Dina Meshref.
Also, Portugal has the trio of Diogo Silva, Andre Silva and Jieni Shao, while Russia will be represented by Irina Ermakova.
Nigerian Women’s Team
Iran will also be debuting at the tournament with the duo of Afshin Noroozi and Nima Alamian coming to Lagos, while other teams like Benin, Cameroun, Congo DRC, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Togo will also be part of the $46,000 prize money championship holding on March 10 to 14 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Also, Nigeria will be led by the current ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri while veteran and six-time Olympian, Segun Toriola will also be part of the contingent.
For the women event, Nigeria will be represented by Germany-based Funke Oshonaike, Portugal-based Edem Offiong and winner of the maiden edition of the tournament, Cecilia Otu-Akpan.
Over 100 players have been listed for the tournament, which is the second challenge series in the ITTF World Tour calendar after the Hungary Open held in January.
According to the Tournament Director, Oluranti Lajide, this year’s tournament is unique as all eyes will be on Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri while the Egypt’s warlords led by bespectacled Omar Assar, who made the biggest move in the latest ranking this month by moving from 57 to 43 in the world.
Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium
“From the quality of players coming for this year’s championship, it is obvious that the feat achieved by Quadri has really attracted more players to this tournament and everybody is eager to face the ITTF Star Player.
The Egyptians will surely be aiming to defend the title they won last year and for the Nigeria female team, this is another opportunity to prove critics wrong about their dwindling fortune in the game. Being the year of the All Africa Games, most Nigerian players know that this is an avenue for them to play their way into the national team and it is going to be exciting,” Lajide said.
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