Nigeria won her second medal at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana, after the Nigerian highest ranked table tennis player, Aruna Quadri, fell 4-3 to Egypt’s Omar Assar in the final of the men’s table tennis singles event.
The contest between the two rivals lived up to expectations as they thrilled the audience with breathtaking skills.
Quadri, who is making his fourth appearance at the Games in Accra since his debut at the 2011 edition in Maputo, Mozambique has never won an African Games gold medal.
In Maputo, he reached the semi-finals and eventually finished fourth, while at the 2015 edition in Brazzaville, Congo, he qualified for his first-ever final in the men’s singles event but lost the pulsating final 4-3 to Assar.
Assar took the first set 11-8, while Quadri bounced back to claim the second and third 11-2, 11-2.
The Egyptian clinched the fourth set 11-7 before Aruna won the fifth set 11-9.
Assar then won the last two sets 11-9, 11-0 to claim the gold medal.
Offiong Edem won Nigeria’s first medal on Tuesday.
Edem clinched the bronze medal in the women’s singles event.
