Action continued on day 4 at the 2017 ITTF Challenge Seaman Nigeria Open recording major upsets and emerging champions. Key highlights of the day were top seeds Aruna Quadri and Funke Oshonaike’s loss in the round of 16 men and women’s singles respectively.
Surprisingly, Quadri was forced to struggle all through his game against his compatriot Bode Abiodun. The number 1 seed had to rally back in the second and fourth set but it was not enough to take him to the next round losing (9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 10-12, 11-9, 9-11)
Oshonaike on the other hand was stopped by the young Italian, Giorgia Piccolin who had already won a gold medal in the finals of the U-21 event. Piccolin beat the number 6 seed in 5 sets (5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5,17-15). There were early signs in the day for the Nigerian when she also survived an upset against Baah Danso Celia of Ghana in 5 sets.
As expected, number 3 seed Dina Meshref defeated her compatriot in four straight sets.
For the second year in a row, last year’s winner Benedek Olah beat Khalid Assar but this time it was in the round of 16. His journey to another final was however short-lived following his loss in the quarterfinal to Szita Marton in 7 sets.
Omar Assar and Gandhi Sarthak are among the top seeded players that have qualified for the semifinals of the tournament while Bode Abiodun remains the only hope for a medal for Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the doubles event was not left out as Hachard Antione and Jean Gregoire of France knocked out Egyptian duo of El Beiali Mohammed and Saleh Ahmed in 5 sets to set up a final with Romanian duo of Cazacu Alexandrua and Sipos Rares who made light work of Gandhi Sarthark and Shetty Sanil of India in 3 straight sets.
While the women’s final will be between Egyptian pair of Dina Meshref and Helmy Yousra and the duo of Balint Bernadett and Pergel Szandra of Hungary. The Hungarians ended the hopes of their Nigerian opponents Ceclia Akpan and Janet Effiom for a place in the final.
While upsets were recorded, new champions emerged in the U-21 final. Abdel Aziz Youssef of Egypt defeated Portugal Francisco Jose Pedro in three straights to go home with 800 dollars while Pedro went home with 400 dollars.
In the women’s category, Piccolin Giorgio came from a set down to beat Balint Benadett of Hungary in 5 sets.
Winners of the men’s and singles event likewise the double event will be decided on Sunday.
Here are the pictures of the winners below:
