Nigeria Table Tennis Star, Quadri Aruna was eliminated in the round of 64 in the men’s singles table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics, falling to Romania’s Eduard Ionescu in a dramatic 4-3 comeback.
Competing in his fourth consecutive Olympic Games, Aruna dominated the first three sets with scores of 11-8, 11-9, and 11-6, looking poised for a clean sweep. However, the Romanian teenager halted Aruna’s momentum by taking the fourth set 11-8. Ionescu then closed the gap further by winning the fifth set 12-10 and continued his surge with an 11-9 victory in the sixth set, tying the match at 3-3.
The seventh and final set was a tense battle, but Ionescu emerged victorious with a 13-11 win, completing the upset against Aruna. This match was not the first encounter between the two players; Ionescu had previously defeated Aruna in the 2024 European Champions League in March with a 3-2 victory.
Aruna, renowned for his historic achievement at the Rio 2016 Olympics where he became the first African to reach the quarterfinals, faced another tough challenge in Paris, but his Olympic journey ended in the round of 64.
