Aruna Quadri again bows to Egypt’s Assar as ITTF Table Tennis Championship ends

Egypt’s Omar Assar clinched the men’s 2022 ITTF Africa Cup Table Tennis Championship title on Saturday after defeating Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri 4-3 who sustained a hamstring injury in the pulsating final at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Both players last met at the African Championships in Yaounde 2021 where the Egyptian won 4-1.

Assar defeated his compatriot Mohamed EL-Beiali in four straight sets (11-4, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8) to reach the final of the competition while Quadri edged the Africa Cup reigning champion, Ahmed Saleh 4-1 (5-11, 15-13,11-6, 12-10, 11-3)

Assar who has a superior head-to-head record over Quadri began the final on a bright note defeating Africa’s highest-ranked player 14-12 in the first set of the finals.
It was the first set the Nigerian was dropping a set at the tournament in Lagos.

The 33-year-old Nigerian bounced back from the defeat to win the second and third sets 11-8, 11-4 before succumbing to an 11-3 loss in the fourth set.

In the fifth set, he also lost 6-11 but recovered in the sixth set to win 11-5. In the final set, Quadri suffered a hamstring injury which ruined his chances as he lost 7-11.
Assar’s win maintained his dominance over Quadri on Saturday with the Egyptian now winning 11 of their last 19 meetings.

In the women’s final, 14-year-old Hana Goda became the youngest ever African to win the women’s 2022 Africa Cup champion after a dominant 4-0 victory over Fatimo Bello.