Nairobi — Kenya’s high desk tennis participant Josiah Wandera anticipates a titanic battle when the creme-de-la-creme of the game in Africa congregate in Nairobi for the Africa Competition of Desk Tennis on the Kasarani indoor gymnasium on Monday subsequent week.
Nigerian high seed Ouadri Akinade Aruna will probably be hoping to wipe off the painful recollections of the 2018 ITTF Africa High 16 Cup last in Nairobi the place he misplaced 3-4 to his Egyptian arch-rival Omar Assar.
The 2 are amongst elite athletes within the competitors and Wandera expects fireworks as each be a part of different gamers in a battle for high honours.
“I’ve performed in opposition to Aruna as soon as in Tunis throughout the Africa 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers. Aruna has a really highly effective forehand. So, he’s just about a forehand dominant participant with a great deal of worldwide expertise,” Wandera stated.
Aruna plies his commerce for Fakel-Gazprom within the Russian Premier Desk Tennis League and is the primary African participant to be ranked within the high 10 on the earth.
The 35-year-old competed for Nigeria on the 2012 Summer time Olympics and 2016 Summer time Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals within the latter competitors.
In 2021, Aruna reached the quarter-finals of the World Desk Tennis (WTT) Contender occasion at WTT Doha.
He misplaced 3-1 within the quarter-finals to Lin Yun-Ju after saving 4 match factors and practically mounting a comeback.
Assar can also be a celeb in his personal proper; on the 2020 Summer time Olympics, Assar completed fifth within the males’s singles after dropping to China’s Ma Lengthy within the quarterfinals.
As of August 2021, he was ranked thirty sixth within the ITTF world rankings, having reached his highest rating of sixteenth in March 2016
Wandera referred to as on desk tennis lovers to show up of their numbers to savour a scrumptious menu of on-court leisure courtesy of the gamers.
“There are very many good gamers competing within the event although. Assar will certainly give Aruna a run for his cash and I simply cannot wait to see who comes out on high between the 2. Nonetheless, I am positive the followers will get pleasure from seeing each play,” he stated.
Equally, Kenya nationwide ladies’s workforce mainstay Lydia Setey, waded into the controversy relating to the 2 gamers, noting the skillfulness of the Nigerian.
“I put my cash on Aruna as a result of he’s such a skillful participant. He performs competitively with salient ardour and upholds the spirit of sportsmanship on the desk. He would not hand over at any given point-he fights to the very finish,” Setey stated.
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She added: “Aruna has lately performed very effectively in opposition to the likes of Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan and different world elite gamers; giving them a run for his or her cash. So, I cannot be flawed to say Aruna would be the victor in Nairobi.”
The competitors kicks off on Monday with the Africa Membership Championship earlier than the ITTF Africa Cup (World Cup qualifiers) from Might 4-6.
The identical yr in 2021, Aruna additionally reached the quarter-finals of the World Desk Tennis Championships in Houston however misplaced 2-4 to Sweden’s Truls Möregårdh. On the World Cup 2014, he reached the quarter-finals within the Males’s Singles competitors.
Aruna competed within the 2018 ITTF African Cup in Nairobi, inserting first in group 2, permitting him to qualify for the Quarter Finals. Within the Quarter Finals, Aruna defeated Derek Abrefa (4-0). Within the Semi-Finals, he defeated Ahmed Saleh (4-1), permitting him to advance to the finals of the African Cup.
The 2018 African Cup Finals in Nairobi featured two of the one African gamers inside the high 50 of the ITTF World Rankings, 2015 and 2016 Champion Assar in opposition to reigning 2017 Champion Aruna within the feud for African Desk Tennis supremacy. Aruna misplaced within the last to the Egyptian and will probably be hoping to make amends in Nairobi this time spherical.
