Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri rallied on Wednesday from two sets down to defeat World Number 5, Hugo Calderano of Brazil 3-2 at the ongoing World Table Tennis (WTT) men’s finals in Doha.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Aruna, who is currently ranked 16th in the WTT rankings, came into the match as the underdog, having lost to his Brazilian counterpart on two previous occasions.
As expected, Calderano started on the front foot as he raced onto the lead, taking the first two sets 11-7, 11-2 in quick succession.
However, Quadri pulled the biggest surprise of the tournament so far as he came back from two sets down to stun the favourite 7-11, 2-11, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 at the end of a pulsating five-set encounter.
The result meant Quadri booked a quarterfinal berth against WTT’s number-one-ranked player, Fan Zhendong of China, on Thursday.
This was after Zhendong also survived a scare to defeat WTT-ranked number 14 player Darko Jorgic of Serbia 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 17-19, 11-8 to win 3-2, following a nervy five-set decider.
“I just never give up. I was fighting and fighting.
“My coach today made a big difference.
“I tried so many things, but he kept encouraging me and told me not to give up. I am very happy that I didn’t give up and it worked out at the end,” an elated Quadri said.
He added that he was very excited to be representing Africa and Nigeria, as well as all his fans across the globe, at the tournament.
“The feeling is just so good. To be among the top 16 in the world.
“For me, to be here always is a pleasure and one I cherish all the time,” he said.
On the prospect of facing either Zhendong or Jorgic in the quarterfinals, Quadri said:
“I’ve never won against Zhendong, and for Jorgic, I’ve lost to him three times and won once.
“So, facing any one of them will be a good challenge for me.
“Only time will tell, but for now, I just have to bask in the euphoria of my victory against Calderano, which is one of the greatest achievements in my career so far,” he said.
The results of other rounds of 16 matches also played on Wednesday saw world-ranked Dang Qiu of Germany stun world-ranked Lin Shindong of China 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 2-11, 11-8).
Also, world number four, China’s Liang Jingkun, dispatched world number six Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei 3-1 (11-6, 17-15, 3-11, 11-5) to advance to the quarterfinals.
The tournament, which has a prize money of 340, 000 dollars, kicked off at the Infinity Arena in Doha on Wednesday and is expected to end on Friday.
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