.Begins campaign against Brazil’s Gustavo
By Akeem Lawal
TEAM Nigeria captain Quadri Aruna will on Tuesday begin his campaign against Tsuboi Gustavo of Brazil in the table tennis men’s singles round 3 event at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
With the exit of Funke Oshonaike, Edem Offiong and Olajide Omotayo in the early stages of the competition, Aruna now remains Nigeria’s hope of winning any medal in the table tennis event.
Aruna made his Olympic debut nine years ago at London 2012, a landmark in itself, but it was at his second appearance at Rio 2016 in Brazil that he rose to the occasion by becoming the first African to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals.
In Brazil, he defeated Chuang Chih-yuan of Taiwan, the then 5th seed, in four straight sets before edging Timo Boll, a renowned German player, 4-1.
He was, however, stopped by China’s Ma Long, the eventual winner, in the quarter-final.
Voted Player of the Year in 2014 at the ITTF Star Awards, Aruna is the highest-rated African tennis player and seeded number 15 among the players in the men’s singles competition of Tokyo 2020.
The 32-year-old, who secured the qualification by virtue of his position on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Olympic qualification ranking had earlier disclosed that he hopes to be “lucky” to stop the domination of China at the games.
“Table tennis is the number one sport in China. They put a lot of money into the sport, and they have the best coaches who understand the game.
“But I think it is possible to pull a surprise in Tokyo. My target is to win a medal, and I hope to be lucky,” he told DW before the Games.
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