Unbeaten Quadri cruises into 2023 WTT Singapore round of 16

Nigeria’s tennis superstar, Quadri Aruna, yesterday surpassed his 2022 World Table Tennis, WTT tournament Singapore Smash record as he defeated youngster Alexis Lebrun of France, 3-2 in the men’s singles to qualify for the round of 16 of the ongoing 2023 WTT edition in Singapore.

Quadri who exited the 2022 edition in round of 32 scaled the hurdles this year as he won his round of 32 clash 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11 and 11-7) at the Singapore Sports hub, to move to the round of 16 at the ongoing tournament.

After the victory against the French tennis star, the African tennis champion will slug out against world-ranked No 4 Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan on Thursday for a place in the next round.

The Nigerian table tennis sensation who is yet to record any win against the Japanese player is hoping for a favourable result as he assured that he would deploy all the arsenal in his armoury to break the jinx.

“It is always difficult playing against Harimoto because he is a very fast player but having played him twice at a big stage like this, I think I will try my best to bring him down this time. This is a 50-50 match for both of us as anybody can win.

“In this tournament, every player has an equal chance to win the title because we are all at the same level regardless of your world ranking. I am happy with my performance and I hope I can do more,” he said.

Quadri is the ‘last man standing’ as he is the only surviving African in the competition following the early exit of Egypt’s quartet of Omar Assar, Dina Meshref, Hana Goda and Mariam Alhodaby.