Nigeria's Aruna Quadri emerges African champion

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Dina Meshref emerged as winners of the men and women’s singles event at the 2018 ITTF African Championships which ended in Mauritius on Sunday.

According to a statement by ATTF-Africa, Quadri did not drop a point from the first round until the final when he defeated Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh 4-1 to win his first African Championships title.

It will be recalled that Quadri, who is currently ranked 18th in the world, narrowly lost to his Egyptian rival, Omar Assar in 2016.

Also, Meshref, who lost the title to Nigeria’s Olufunke Oshonaike in 2016, reclaimed her title after a convincing 4-0 win over compatriot, Reem El-Eraky in the women’s singles final.

An elated Quadri said he is still eager to win the African Games which he has yet to have in his kitty.

“I think I have won virtually all the titles in Africa, the only one I am still hungry to win is the African Games’ title which I believe I will continue to work hard in order to win it next year in Morocco.

“I am happy that I am winning this African Championships title for the first time, particularly less than one month after I won the ITTF Challenge Nigeria Open in Lagos.

“I am grateful to my Mauritian fans for their support throughout my matches,” he said.

Meshref in spite winning the women singles, admitted that it was a bit hard to win back the laurel, particularly with strong opposition from Nigeria’s Edem Offiong in the semi-final.