Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has crashed out of the ongoing maiden WTT Star Contender Chennai, as 2025 African Cup champion, Omar Assar, began his campaign with a convincing victory in the first round of the men’s singles at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, India.
Assar, number five seed in the men’s singles, received a bye to the second round [round of 32] and showcased his best against Hong Kong’s Kwan Man Ho.
Despite losing the first game 4-11, the Egyptian dug deep to win the next three games 11-7, 11-3, 12-10, progressing to the third round (last 16) where he will face the winner between South Korea’s Oh Junsung and Hong Kong’s Chan Baldwin today.
However, it was a bad outing for Aruna, the number four seed, as he was stunned by Chinese Taipei’s rising star Feng Yi-Hsin (13-11, 11-8, 11-8) in the second round.
The 22-year-old curtailed Aruna, in their maiden encounter, recording his first win against the highest-ranked African in the world.
Recall that the African legend entered the competition as a replacement for German star Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
The world number 18 and his arch-African rival, Assar, were confirmed for the $275,000 tournament last week.
