Captain of Team Nigeria Table Tennis, Aruna Quadri, was the latest member of the African contingents to be eliminated from the Tokyo Olympics games.
Aruna was ousted in a fiercely contested Round 3 matchup losing 4-2 (15-13, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11) to Brazilian, Gustavo Tsuboi on Tuesday morning.
He now joins fellow compatriot Funke Oshonaike, Offiong Edem, and Olajide Omotayo in taking the 13,489 km long- journey back to Nigeria.
Record-breaker and ITTF ‘Club 7’ inductee, Olufunke Oshonaike, was first to cave in to a relentless display from 449th rank female, Liu Juan of the US.
She lost in four sets 1-4 (7-11 3-11, 4-11, 13-11, 4-11) in the Preliminary Round Results.
Tiago Apolonia of Portugal was too much for Olajide Omotayo, beating the Nigerian in five straights of 0-4 (11-7 11-9 11-6 11-5) in the Men’s preliminary round of the event.
Earlier, Edem Offiong made a bright start to the tournament dispatching her opponent from Hungary, Madarasz Dora in 35mins by 4-1 (11-8 11-9 11-9 9-11 11-4).
She however could not sustain the tempo going into her round 2 match against Zhang Lily of the USA.
The tables were reversed, with the American showing her dominance over Effiong.
The 2007 All-Africa Games women’s doubles medalist put in a valiant performance in the first game securing a 15-13 win.
Zhang exhibited good composure to take the second and third games by an 11-2 margin.
Some spirited play from the 35- year-old Nigerian was not enough to rescue the fourth and fifth game as she bowed out of the tournament,