Top seed in the men’s singles event, Aruna Quadri defeated his compatriot, Olajide Omotayo 4-0 in the semifinals earlier in the day to set up a meeting with the winner of the second semifinal between Nigeria veteran, Segun Toriola and Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh.
Toriola pulled his weight but couldn’t overcome the Egyptian after surrendering a set lead twice in the game to eventually lose 2-4.
In the finals, Aruna Quadri dispatched Ahmed Saleh of Egypt 4-1in convincing fashion to win his maiden ITTF Africa Championship about a month after his first ITTF Nigeria Open title.
The World no. 18 raced into the lead after the first set but Saleh recovered quite well to draw level in the second set – the first and only set Quadri dropped throughout the tournament. Quadri then dug deep in subsequent sets winning the next three sets to put the game beyond the Egyptian.
In the women’s singles event, Edem Offiong was the only Nigerian in the last four as she lost her semifinal match 2-4 after going 2-1 up against eventual winner and top seed, Dina Meshref of Egypt.
