Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has started his 2016 campaign on a good note after making the top eight in the men’s singles of the ITTF World Tour tagged the Hungarian Open.
The Nigerian, who was seeded number six for the tournament which had 32 players, started competing from the main draw. He defeated Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, Czech Republic’s Tomas Konecny as well as home boy, Daniel Kosiba to set up a quarterfinal clash against France’s Simon Gauzy.
A composed and determined Quadri was in fine form against most of his opponents beating Monteiro 4-0, Konecny 4-1 and Kosiba 4-1. He put up a good fight against the Frenchman as several unforced errors caused him a 4-2 loss to the European.
However, he combined well with his compatriot, Bode Abiodun in the men’s doubles as they fought hard from the qualifying round to make it to the main draw where they dismissed number five seed in the men’s doubles, Brazil’s Casuo Mazumoto and Thiago Monteiro 3-0 to berth in the quarterfinal.
Their run also ended in the quarter-finals as they lost to Chinese Taipei’s duo of Chuang Chih-Yuan / Huang Sheng-Sheng.
A satisfied Quadri attributed his fine form to the level of competitiveness at the French league and hoped for good results at the German Open which serves off on Wednesday January 27 in Berlin.
