They came, they fought but their efforts could not see them through to the quarter final. This aptly explained the performance of Africa’s representatives at the 2017 ITTF World Cup, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar who exited the tournament on Saturday.
Having worked their way into the main draw (round of 16) of the prestigious tournament, Quadri’s dream of repeating the 2014 quarter final feat was extinguished by Japan’s Jun Mizutani while Assar met his waterloo against World and Olympic champion, China’s Ma Long.
Despite tantalising the Belgian fans at the Country Hall of Liege, Quadri could not withstand the style of play of the Olympic bronze medalist from Japan who ended the Nigerian dream at 4-0.
Unlike Quadri, Assar fought in his usual style against the number one player, Ma Long but the experience of the Chinese was too much for the Egyptian. Ma Long who was playing his first game in the competition displayed his usual self with a 4-1 win over the African star.
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