ITTF World Championships: Quadri Aruna Bows Out in Style

Quadri Aruna’s history making run at the 2021 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, USA has come to an end following his 4-2 loss to Sweden’s Truls Moregard in the quarter finals of the Men’s Singles.

The Nigerian who had earlier in the round of 16 defeated Swedish Kristian Karlsson bemoaned his inability to tame the young and skillful 19-year-old Swede after falling behind in the first two games of the 4-2 (13-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7) loss in the quarter finals.

“I think I did very well, I gave my heart and soul but the last match was not meant to be,” Aruna admitted.

“The first two sets were really important, we started like 50-50, the first set I was like 10-8 and I lost, the second set too I lost with almost the same margin. The two sets made the biggest difference but of course he played amazingly well,” the Nigerian stressed without bitterness.

Aruna was hoping to consolidate on his impressive run so far at the championships; however, he missed a chance to convert while leading 10-8, giving Moregard the opportunity to take the first stab to claim the first game at 13-11.