Aruna outshines India’s Gnanasekaran

 Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna yesterday put up a world class performance  to beat newly crowned Indian national champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 3-0 win in a first round tie at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East Hub taking place in Doha.

The Nation

It was  the first meeting between  the two superstars  but it was Aruna that  led the tie winning 11-7, while in the second game it was Aruna all through with another convincing 11-4 win while he edged on 11-8 in the third game to complete the 3-0 rout of his opponent.

“I am happy because everything worked  well for me in the match. I had taken my time to study his game and everything I picked worked well for me in the encounter. I am looking forward to the next match and I hope to approach every match with all seriousness,” Aruna said after the match.

With this win, Aruna will now face a familiar face in Portugal’s Joao Geraldo who walked over  Yang Wang after  the Slovak  was disqualified for breaking COVID-19 protocols put in place by the organisers.

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, it was not a good outing for six-time African women champion Dina Meshref of Egypt as she was beaten by Korea Republic’s Hyowon Suh 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5).

Meshref and Omar Assar are still in the race in the mixed doubles event of the championship.