Quadri Aruna, Nigeria’s top table tennis player, has exited the International Table Tennis (ITTF) World Cup after losing by 1-3 (12-10, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11) to Portuguese Marcos Freitas in the group stage.
The Men’s singles game on Wednesday at the Galaxy Arena, Macao, China, saw the Portuguese claim the first three sets but a comeback from the Nigerian in the last set was not enough to scale over the line.
Aruna had started his campaign at the World Cup on a good note with a 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6) convincing win over Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez to set the final group 15 tie against Freitas.
Aruna occupied the top spot in the group as Freitas had earlier beaten Gonzalez 4-0 (17-15, 11-7, 11-7, 11-1), but the Nigerian had more points than the Portuguese and was rated number one in the group.
The tie between Aruna and Freitas decides the winner of the group and who will then advance to the knockout of the competition.
With Aruna falling short, Freitas will face Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
The tournament which began on Monday will end on April 21.
