Aruna Quadri’s sensational run of form and his hopes of winning Nigeria’s and Africa’s first men’s singles table tennis Olympic medal were dashed at Rio 2016.
The Nigerian star had succeeded in stopping some big names on his way to the quarter-finals, but reaching the semi-finals he came up against world No.1 Ma Long on Tuesday night at the Riocetnro Pavilion 3, a meeting that eventually ended his dream.
The Chinese superstar was too quick and too sharp for Quadri, beating the Nigerian in four sets.
Quadri started brightly, sharing the first four points with Long 2-2, but from that point on it was the Chinese all the way.
The match ended 11-4, 11-2, 11-6, 11-7 and was quickly over in just 28 minutes.
