By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s tennis sensation Quadri Aruna crashed out of the men’s singles event of the ongoing 2023 World Table Tennis Contender Series in Durban, South Africa on Saturday January 14.
This is after the African number one suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss to Ukraine’s Yaroslav Zhmudenko in the quarter final stage.
Zhmudenko currently ranked 154th in the world, outclassed Quadri ranked 14th in the world and fourth seed in the competition in three straight sets – 11-8, 11-7, 11-3 to qualify to the semi final of the tournament.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian went ahead to book a spot in the final after beating No 33 ranked France’s Simon Gauzy 3-1, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9.
Quadri had entered the competition as one of the favourites to win the event.
Aruna started the competition in an impressive version, beating Chinese star player Sun Wen in the round of 32.
He also defeated France’s youngster Lebrun 3-2 in the round of 16 to set up a last eight battle against the Ukrainian.
Fellow African Dina Meshref also crashed out in the quarter final of the competition losing 3-2 to Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-Chuan.
The duo will be hoping to return to Durban between May 20 and May 28, 2023 for the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships finals.
