Aruna Quadri’s hopes of winning Nigeria’s and Africa’s first men’s singles table tennis Olympic medal were dashed here at Rio 2016 on Tuesday night at the Riocetnro Pavilion 3.
The Nigerian star had stopped some big names on his way to the quarter-finals, but reaching the semi-finals became a step too far as he came up against world No.1 Ma Long on Tuesday.
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.
