Aruna Wins Silver At African Games
Nigeria wins its first medals at the African Games with a silver from Aruna in table tennis.
Omar Assar of Egypt defeated Aruna Quadri, in the 2024 African Games men's singles table tennis final.
Aruna had to settle for silver in a hotly contested match on Tuesday in Accra, Ghana, losing 4-3 to his Egyptian archrival.
Aruna's unsatisfactory record of not winning a gold medal in the men's singles event was maintained by the loss in the final, despite competing in four editions of the African Games.
“It's really hard and tough. But of course, we keep fighting and fighting. It's not about winning all the time, it's about sportsmanship," he said.
“This is why we are professionals; this is what we are made to do. It's always a very difficult match; it shows that the level of the competition is actually improving.”
Offiong Edem, meanwhile, earned Nigeria's first medal at the African Games in Ghana by settling for bronze in the women's table tennis singles competition.
Dina Meshref defeated Edem 4-0 in the semi-final match after Edem had defeated the Alhodaby twins, Marwa and Mariam, in the quarter-finals and last 16 to join the league of medalists in the games.
He did not make it to the podium when he represented Nigeria in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2011. In the 2015 men's singles championship match in Brazzaville, Congo, Assar triumphed over Aruna.
Olajide Omotayo, a fellow countryman, defeated him to win the gold medal in Rabat, Morocco, four years later.
Aruna commended the level of competition in table tennis on the continent and called his most recent defeat “difficult” in his remarks.
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