Aruna Quadri, a talented table tennis player from Nigeria, pulled off an incredible comeback at the ongoing World Table-tennis (WTT) men’s finals in Doha.
Despite being the underdog, he defeated the world number 5, Hugo Calderano of Brazil, in a thrilling five-set encounter.
Calderano had taken the first two sets in quick succession, but Quadri refused to give up and fought back to win the match 7-11, 2-11, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10.
This victory secured a quarter-final berth for the 16th-ranked player in the tournament, where he will face the current world number one, Fan Zhendong of China.
Zhendong, too, had a tough time in his round of 16 match against Darko Jorgic of Serbia.
After a five-set decider, he won 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 17-19, 11-8) against the 14th-ranked player to advance to the quarter-finals.
Quadri was ecstatic after his victory, and he credited his coach for making a big difference.
He said that he tried many things, but his coach encouraged him not to give up, which helped him to turn things around.
He expressed his happiness and pride in representing Africa and Nigeria, as well as all his fans across the globe at the tournament.
Quadri was realistic about his chances in the quarter-finals, saying that he had never won against Zhendong and had lost to Jorgic three times before.
However, he was ready for the challenge and was basking in the euphoria of his victory against Calderano, which he said was one of the greatest achievements of his career so far.
Other rounds of 16 matches on Wednesday saw world-ranked number 13 Dang Qiu of Germany stun world number nine, Lin Shindong of China 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 2-11, 11-8).
Also, world number four, China’s Liang Jingkun dispatched world number six Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei 3-1 (11-6, 17-15, 3-11, 11-5) to advance to the quarter-finals.
The tournament, which has a prize money of 340,000 dollars, began on Wednesday at the Infinity Arena in Doha and will conclude on Friday.
