Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been pitted against India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the main draw of the men’s singles of the $200,000 prize money World Table Tennis Middle East Hub in Doha, Qatar.
Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw failed to join Aruna in the main draw as he was beaten by Japan’s Masataka Morizono 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10).
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Tokyo 2020 Olympics-bound Diaw fought his way to the fourth stage of the preliminary but the southpaw Japanese was too much for the African.
On Monday, Nigerian Olajide Omotayo, Egypt’s Omar Assar, Ahmed Saleh, Mohammed El-Beiali and Khaled Assar were all shown the exit door in the first and second stages of the preliminaries.
As the only African competing in the main draw, Aruna, who is among the 24 top players seeded for the tournament, will square up against the Indian on Table One on Wednesday (today).
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The Nigerian is ranked 21st in the world, while the 28-year-old Gnanasekaran is rated 37th. Both players are meeting at the level for the first time with odds favouring the Aruna.
“I am hoping that my best will be enough for me against the best in Qatar. There is no doubt that I am hopeful of a good outing in readiness for the World Olympic Qualification tournaments, which takes place after the WTT tournament later this month. There are no minnows in table tennis and I hope my best will see me through the tournament,” Aruna said.
The WTT Contender Series features two event tiers – WTT Star Contender and WTT Contender.
Aruna and other top players will battle it out for ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking points, as up-and-coming stars look to rise up the ladder.
© ControlTV 2021.
