Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been knocked out of the Men’s Singles event of the ongoing 2023 World Table Tennis Contender Series in Durban South Africa on Saturday, suffering a 3-0 loss to Ukraine’s Yaroslav Zhmudenko in the quarter finals.

Zhmudenko currently ranked 154th in the world, outclassed Quadri ranked 14th in the world and fourth seed in the competition in three straight sets, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3 to qualify to the semi final of the tournament. The 34-year-old Ukrainian went ahead to book a spot in the final after beating No 33 ranked France’s Simon Gauzy 3-1, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9.

Quadri had entered the competition as one of the favourites to win the event. After being drawn bye in the qualifying round, he saw off China’s Sun Wen 3-1 in the round of 32 winning 12-10, 15-13, 11-13, 11-8 to progress to the round of 16 where he came from behind to beat French youngster Felix Lebrun 3-2. 3-11, 11-6, 10-12, 15-13, 11-5.

Fellow African Dina Meshref also crashed out in the quarter final of the competition losing 3-2 to Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-Chuan 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-13.

The duo will be hoping to return to Durban between May 20 to May 28, 2023 for the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals.