Egypt’s Omar Assar has again claimed dominance in the final of the men’s singles at the 2021 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African championship defeating Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri 4-1 in Cameroon.
Nigeria’s quest to retain his continental crown ended in disappointment as he was overwhelmed by Assar.
The Egyptian took the first set 13-11, but Aruna levelled the scoreboard with an 11-9 victory in the second set.
Assar then proceeded to sweep the Nigerian aside in the subsequent sets 11-6, 11-4, 11-4.
It wasn’t all gloom for Quadri as he exited the tourney as the champion in the men’s doubles event alongside Bode Abiodun.
The duo defeated Khalid Assar and Saleh Ahmed of Egypt 4-2 on Monday to reclaim the men’s doubles gong for Nigeria.
In the women’s singles, 13-year-old Hana Gouda’s giant-killing spree was halted by Mariam Ahodhaby in the final.
Coming into the championship as an underdog, Gouda from Egypt topped the U-15 world rankings three to 3 times, and contributed to Ahly’s success in the Table Tennis League in the last season.
She also recently won the Portugal International Championship in the U-12 and 15-year-old competitions, as well as winning the Bronze in the World Confederations Championship in an unprecedented achievement in the history of the Egyptian table tennis sport.
But faced a keenly contested match against her compatriot Mariam Ahodhaby. The quest had the two Egyptians battling each other in a topsy-turvy affair.
Ahodhaby took the first set before surrendering the next two sets to Goda. But the teenager couldn’t hold her much more experienced opponent at bay.
The match swung in Ahodhaby’s favour, and she ramped up her matches to win the subsequent sets and consequently the tournament.