By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s Table Tennis star and Africa’s best, Aruna Quadri, has lost out in the $100, 000 ultimate prize after he lost loosely to a Brazilian Hugo Calderano in the quarter-final of the ongoing World Table Tennis (WTT) Smash tournament in Singapore.
Specifically, the Nigerian lost 4-0 to World number five, meaning he threw away all sets.
To reach quarter-final, Quadri ranked number 14 globally beat World number four Tomokazu Harimo of Japan 3-0 in the round of 16 clash.
Both Quadri and Calderano met for the first time at the top level and the Brazilian was the victor after he beat the Nigerian 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-4, to seal his place in the semi-final of the competition.
Aruna Quadri lost all sets 4-0 in the fastest defeat in the tournament history.
The Russian-based Aruna had worked extra hard in the qualifying round and round of 32 before he could secure a round of 16 spot.
Quadri had surpassed his achievement in the 2022 edition of the competition when he bowed out at second round.
The highly rated competition which kicked off on Saturday March 11, will end on March 19.
