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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has commended the strategic role played by Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri at the just concluded Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In the Rio 2016 wrap up published on the website of the world table tennis ruling body, Aruna was described as the Africa star of Rio.
“The Men’s Singles event also featured fantastic performances from two players in particular: Hugo Calderano and Quadri Aruna. Calderano made full use of the home crowd advantage as the Brazilian negotiated the likes of Par Gerell and Tang Peng on his way to a round four finish,” ITTF said.
The body added: “Nigerian contestant Aruna Quadri caused arguably the biggest upsets in the category as the 27th seed beat Chuang Chih-Yuan (6th) and Timo Boll (10th) before eventually exiting to Ma Long in the last eight – becoming the first African to reach that stage of an Olympic Table Tennis competition.”
Quoting Quadri after the feat, “This is amazing, I don’t know what to say. My fans made me do this. Thank you for all the Brazilian spectators for their support. They gave me so much energy. This feels so good, it is a dream come true.”
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