Table Tennis: Aruna Quadri makes top eight at Czech Open

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Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has put the disappointment from previous matches behind him after his excellent performance aided him to make the last eight of the men’s singles at the just concluded International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Czech Open.

2014 ITTF Star Player was seeded number 30 in the tournament and he began his campaign from the main draw where was pitched against Iran’s Nima Alamian.

True to his rating, Quadri fought well against the Iranian to clinch a tough 4-3 win to secure a place in the round of 32 of the championship.
In the round of 32, Quadri was set up against Germany’s Patrick Baum who was tournament’s number eight seed.

In their two previous meetings, Quadri has lost to the German but at the weekend, the records were tumbled as the
Nigerian bashed the world number 25 9-11,11-7,3-11,14-12,6-11,6-11 (4-2) to progress to the last 16 of the competition.

Just like he did against the German, Quadri once again faced tournament’s number 10 seed, Japan’s Masataka Morizono, who defeated him at same stage last year.

Without much efforts, Quadri walloped the Asian 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (4-1) to make the quarterfinal round of the match.

The leg injury sustained during the round of 16 match prevented Quadri from doing well in the quarterfinal
encounter against France’s Simon Gauzy.

However, Aruna, the no.30 seed, after making a positive start and securing the first two games, was beaten by the Frenchman, the no.18 seed (6-11, 4-11, 11-3, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7) for the Nigerian to exit the tournament.

“I couldn´t move my leg, I have some pain on my knee, I couldn´t move on the right outside of the table. And it cost me a problem why I lost. Also I had some chances 2:1 on sets and 7:1 but I didn´t finish it. And since this moment my legs started. I didn´t want to stop, I had to finish the match. It is on my left knee and when I don´t have a confidence to move when the ball is on my forehand… I have to find solution, to take a rest and cancel the tournament in Austria to take a rest and recover for African Games. The quarter-final is not bad but I lost a big opportunity 2:1 and 7:1, it was a little bit painful. But as my leg wasn´t good I couldn´t continue fighting,” Quadri said.
The performance at the Czech Open may rub off positively on Quadri’s world ranking in September.