ITTF World Cup: Aruna out as Assars progresses to second round

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has bowed out of the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Cup Macao 2024 after losing 3-1 to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas in the group-stage match of Group 15 of the men’s singles.

However, Egypt’s Omar Assar remains as the only African after he defeated Swedish superstar Truls Moregard in the final group 16 match of the tournament on Wednesday, April 17 to progress to the second round.

Going into the match, Nigeria’s tennis poster boy, Aruna who won Puerto Rico’s Gonzalez Daniel 4-0 in his first match could not entrench his dominance against Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, losing the first three games (10-12, 9-11,9-11) and won only the dead rubber game, 11-3 to complete four.

While Assar deployed his arsenal to tame the threat of the Swedish national champion with a commanding display, finishing 3-1 (15-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5). This victory elicited cheers from fans at the Galaxy Arena.

The Egyptian began his winning streak on Monday beating Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan 4-0 to emerge as the winner of Group 16. The two victories cemented his place in the second stage (knockout) of the $1 million prize money championship.

In the women category, African Champion Hana Goda was knocked out of the women’s event after losing 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) to Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz in the final group match. She had lost 3-1 in her group opener to Portugal’s Fu Yu.

Other African table tennis players who have exited include; Egypt’s trio of Mohamed El-Beiali, Yousra Helmy, and Mariam Alhodaby and Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou who lost all her group matches.

Following the conclusion of the first stage, the top performer from each group will progress to Stage 2.

This stage will feature an electrifying knockout draw with a best-of-seven-game format, where players will compete head-to-head until a champion emerges.