The trio of Quadri Aruna, Olajide Omotayo, and Offiong Edem have crashed out of the men’s singles Table Tennis event at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games, www.aclsports.com reports.
2019 African Games Champion, Olajide Omotayo lost to Noshad Alamiyan of Iran 1-4 (11-6, 5-11, 4-11, 10-12, 8-11) in the Round of 64.
In the first set, Omotayo started in a high spirit defeating highly ranked Alamiyan by 11 to 6 points. The Iranian rallied back to level up in the second set winning by 11 to 5 points. The third set was not impressive for Omotayo as Alamiyan stole the show by 11 to 4 points.
Omotayo was on the verge of picking the fourth set as both players tied at 10 to 20 points but Alamiyan took the last two points to win 12 to 10 points. Alamiyan’s brilliance gave him the needed victory in the fifth set winning by 11 to 8 points.
Nigeria most ranked player, Quadri Aruna suffered a heartbreaking against Romania’s Eduard Ionescu 3-4 (11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 9-11, 11-13) in the men’s singles Round of 64.
Aruna, world number 14 led the first three sets 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 before the upset began in the fourth set (8-11) The African number 1 led comfortably in the fifth set before Ionescu leveled up (10-10) to win by 12 to 10 points.
Ionescu took the sixth set 11 to 9 points after struggling against Aruna. In the seventh set, Aruna recovered after a 5-point deficit to level up at 10 to 10 points forcing a tiebreak before eventually losing by 13 to 11 points.
Meanwhile, Offiong Edem lost to Bruna Takahashi 0-4 in the Round of 64 women’s singles event at the ongoing Paris Olympic Games.
