By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been sent packing from the ongoing 2025 WTT Champions Chongqing.
This came after the table tennis star lost 3-0 to second seed and world No. 2 Wang Chuqin of China in the first round of the competition.
In their first-ever competitive meeting, Aruna, who recently finished second at the ITTF Africa Cup in Tunisia, could not handle Wang, with the 24-year-old Chinese breezing past his Nigerian opponent in straight sets.
Wang recorded scores of 11-6, 13-11, and 11-7 to finish off the more experienced Aruna and progress to the next round, where he will face Alexis Lebrun after the Frenchman dug deep to beat Japan’s Shunsuke Togami 3-2 (12-14, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-8).
Africa’s No. 1 and reigning ITTF Africa Cup champion, Omar Assar, has also been eliminated in the first round following a 3-0 loss to Germany’s Qiu Dan.
Assar, 33, was comfortably beaten by the 28-year-old German, who recorded scores of 11-3, 11-6, and 11-8 to progress to the next round, where he will face the winner between seventh seed Truls Moregard of Sweden and Denmark’s Jonathan Groth.
This means that both continental superstars have missed out on the $800,000 prize money meant for the tournament’s winners.
Africa’s hopes, however, rest on 17-year-old Hana Goda, with the Egyptian set to face South Korean sensation Shun Yu-bin in the first round on Thursday, 13 March 2025, in the women’s singles category.
Goda’s compatriot, Dina Meshref, was beaten 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 7-11) by Korean star Kim Nayeong in the first round.
