Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna was on Saturday evening dumped out of the Paris 2024 Olympics after losing 4-3 to Romania’s Eduard Ionescu in the men’s singles Round of 64, despite being up 3-0.
Aruna, Africa’s No. 1-ranked player, was coasting to victory, quickly going up 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-6), but Ionescu fought back, preventing Aruna from winning by taking the fourth game 11-8.
Ionescu, ranked No. 72 in the world then won the next two games, 12-10, 11-9, taking the match to the deciding seventh game.
In the deciding game, despite a late rally from Aruna, the 19-year-old Romanian prevailed, winning 13-11 to book his place in the Round of 32 of the men’s singles table tennis event.
Aruna became the second Nigerian to bow out of the Olympics after fellow table tennis player Olajide Omotayo had earlier lost his Round of 64 men’s singles match against Noshad Alamiyan of Iran.
