Africa’s top table tennis player, Quadri Aruna, defeated Japan’s Tomokazu Harimo, the world number fourth player, 3-0 to reach the quarter finals of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Smash in Singapore.
The game played at the early hours of Thursday morning, saw the Nigerian defeat the Japanese in straight sets (11-7, 13-11, 11-7), in the Round of 16 at the Infinity arena.
Having lost thrice to the Japanese in previous encounters, Aruna fought hard to end his losing streak against Harimo, making him react via his Instagram handle after the game.
“Unbelievable”, Aruna wrote on Instagram with a photo of him screaming in excitement during the game.
The 14th WTT ranked player had earlier defeated Germany’s Ruwen Filus 3-2 in the Round of 64 as well as Alexis Lebrun from France 3-2 in the Round of 32.
The Nigerian awaits the winner of the tie between Hugo Calderano of Brazil and Darko Jorgic of Slovenia for the quarter finals on Friday.
Aruna is the only surviving African in the competition following the early exit of Egypt’s quartet of Omar Assar, Dina Meshref, Hana Goda and Marian Alhodaby.
The tournament is expected to end on Sunday.