Nigeria had a first official day of the Paris 2024 Olympics to remember as the country’s two representatives in the men’s singles table tennis event were bundled out in the Round of 64.
Quadri Aruna and Olajide Omotayo Nigeria’s representatives in the men’s table tennis singles event both lost their Round of 64 matches to Iranian and Romanian opponents respectively.
The day seemed to have started on a bright note for Nigeria, as Olajide Omotayo took the first game 11-6 against Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan. However, he failed to capitalize on his early success, going on to lose the next four games 11-5, 11-4, 12-10, and 11-8.
The 32-year-old Iranian claimed a 4-1 victory to qualify for the Round of 32, dumping two-time Olympian Omotayo out of the competition.
With Omotayo out, all eyes were on Africa’s No. 1-ranked player, Quadri Aruna, to save the day for the nation against 19-year-old Romanian Eduard Ionescu.
As expected, the far more experienced Aruna, ranked 19th in the world, had a flying start, winning the first three games 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 against the Romanian, who is ranked No. 72 in the world.
The back-to-back European U-19 singles champion Ionescu, however, pegged Aruna back, leveling the match at 3-3 (11-8, 12-10, 11-9) to take it to the decisive seventh game.
In the decisive seventh game, the younger Romanian claimed a 13-11 victory to win 4-3 and book a place in the Round of 32 in his maiden Olympics despite a late rally by Aruna.
Nigeria will hope that the other two table tennis players left in the Olympics, Offiong Edem and Fatimo Bello, who are in the women’s singles event, will redeem the nation’s image.
Edem, appearing at the Olympics for the fifth time, starts her campaign on Sunday (tomorrow) against Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi in the Round of 64, while Bello will face France’s Jia Nan Yuan in her maiden Olympics appearance.
