Nigeria’s number one table tennis player, Aruna Quadri has set his sight on October 11 to pull of a resurgence with his club, Sporting of Portugal in the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) Champions League.
After failing to save the Portuguese champions from a 3-0 loss to the ETTU title holders, Borussia Dusseldorf of Germany in the Group A league opener, Quadri is hoping for a revival in the next tie at home with Ostrava of Czech Republic.
The opening day loss for Quadri’s team, who were 2017 semi-finalists, came in the absence of their captain, Joao Monteiro, and the Nigerian ping pong star could not muster his pals to overcome the home team.
The encounter had all the qualities of an epic match while the support of the home fans was all what Dusseldorf needed to be fired up for the tie.
Portuguese ace, Diogo Carvalho started the campaign for Sporting, while Egypt’s Omar Assar started for Borussia Dusseldorf.
From the start, Assar put everything right and claim the first two games at 11-3, 11-4.
However, Carvalho did not leave the table without a spirited effort, as he prevented a clean win for Assar with 11-7 win in the third.
The fourth game was the climax, as both players showed great displays that excited the fans and, when the tie went into deuce, Assar rose to the occasion to win at 13-11 for a 3-1 overall victory.
It was the turn of Quadri to restore parity for Sporting against Kristian Karlsson.
The match started with both players playing with caution but it was the Swedish Karlsson that won the first game at 11-7.
Not ready to give up the tie, Quadri leveled up with an 11-9 win, but the last two games were full of excitement with Karlsson claiming emphatic victory against Quadri at 12-10, 11-9 to give Dusseldorf a 2-0 lead.
The third match, between Bode Abiodun and Anton Kallberg, was also explosive, but it was the young Swedish star who sank Sporting with 14-12, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4 win in the Group A opener of the lucrative league.
