Nigeria Aruna Quadri on Saturday cruised to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles at the ongoing Seamaster ITTF Nigeria Open holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports, Lagos.

Africa’s number one table tennis player, Quadri Aruna

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Quadri defeated fellow compatriots, Kazeem Makanjuola in a straight four sets to proceed to the next round.

The competition, which kicked off on Aug.8, will end on Aug. 12.

Quadri, the highest ranked player in the tournament, told NAN that he was happy to proceed to the next stage of the event, commending the fans for their supports.

“It is always a good thing to win in the home-front and the fans here have been so supportive,” he said.

Meanwhile, Segun Toriola, Jamiu Azeez, Funke Oshinaike and Cecelia Akpan have all crashed out of the Men’s and Women’s Singles event of the competition.

Finland Olar Benedek defeated Toriola in the round of 16 in a four straight win, while Pergei Szandra of Hungary defeated Akpan by 4-1 (11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-4).
Also, Chinese Fan Siqi, walked passed Oshinaike by 4-1 (11-2, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10), while Scotland Rumgay Gavin defeated Azeez by 4-2.

NAN reports that a total of 169 players, comprising 101 males and 68 females from 27 countries are taking part in the event.

A total of 46,000 dollars in prizes, equivalent to over N16.75 million, are to be won by players at the end of the championships on Sunday.