Aruna Quadri has reclaimed the International Table Tennis Federation ITTF Africa Cup title after losing three previous consecutive finals.
The Nigerian ping ponger outclassed Egypt’s Mohamed EL Beiali 4-0 in the final of 2024 edition today in Kigali, Rwanda.
Speaking after his triumph, Quadri referenced his humble begining which he said fired him up in the Kigali event.
“I never gave up on my dream, it doesn’t matter where you come from, I came from a small place in Oyo state in Nigeria, and it was really difficult growing up, I just want to tell them that something great is very possible to happen in every individual,” Aruna explained.
This is Quadri’s first Africa Cup title since 2017 having lost in 3 consecutive finals, while Mohamed EL Beiali vied for his maiden singles crown.
ITTF Africa Cup is one of the continent’s most prestigious table tennis competitions, second only to the African Championships.
Tag: Nigeria
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Superstar world-record holder Tobi Amusan outclassed a competitive field at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational on Saturday to win the women’s 100m hurdles in a world-leading time of 12.40 seconds.
The Nigerian trailed reigning world champion Jamaican Danielle Williams and American Nia Ali for most of the race but surged ahead in the closing stages, eclipsing the previous world-leading time of 12.42 set by Tonea Marshall of the USA on April 20.
Williams finished second in 12.46 seconds, with Christina Clemens of the USA taking third place in 12.54.
Yanique Thompson of Jamaica secured fourth in 12.59, while Ali slipped to fifth with a time of 12.65.
First placed Amusan ended last season on a high by winning the Diamond League women’s 100m hurdles title in Eugene, Oregon for an astonishing third consecutive time and silencing critics following a disappointing performance at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest
World leader Daniel Roberts led home a 1-2 finish for USA in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Roberts, competing for the third time this season, secured a comfortable victory with a swift time of 13.17.
Eric Edwards finished second in 13.33, just ahead of Jamaican Lafranz Campbell, who clocked 13.37. -
Rivers Hoopers became the first Sahara Conference team to qualify to the playoffs scheduled to take place later this month in Kigali thanks to a 78-71 double-overtime win over APR on Saturday.
Devine Eke’s put-back sent the game to the first overtime (58-58) before the Hoopers outscored APR 13-6 in the final five minutes to become the first Nigerian side to reach the BAL playoffs.
Peter Olisemeka came up with a remarkable performance, finishing a double-double of 17 points, 19 rebounds while dishing out 5 assists and swatting 3 blocks shots.
On the day that lethal scorer Will Perry had a quiet performance, Eke, who had a slow start, contributed massively on both ends of the floor, finishing with 18 points and 18 rebounds as the Hoopers improved to 4-1 with a game remaining.
APR started the game with a relatively new line-up with Jean Jacques Wilson stepping in for Williams Robeyn, but they ended up needing deeper changes as the game progressed.
APR Obadiah Noel, who scored the opening 2 points, limped off the court four minutes into game, and, to make matter worse for the Rwandan champions, Adonis Filer was stretchered off by the emergency services to receive medical. Noel and Filer never returned to the game.
The Rwandan champions had their toughest game in Dakar and dropped to 2-3 ahead of the last day of the Sahara Conference on Sunday.
“We have a lot of heart,” said an elated Kelvin Amayo who had a rough night turning the ball over 10 times although he contributed 13 points.
Amayo said: “Everybody counted us out, but I have been saying this since the training camp in Lagos and Port Harcourt… A lot of people were laughing at what happened to Nigeria teams before; But we created a really good group.”
Amayo lamented the APR short-handed roster, but he acknowledged the difficulty of coming up on top. “I am sorry for what happened to the other guys but the other group of guys that came in played very hard. They rallied for those guys. First time we beat them by four, but it was a big game too.”
APR face hosts AS Douanes on Sunday while Rivers Hoopers will go up against US Monastir.Credit: BAL
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The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) has elected new executive officers to run the affairs of the Association for the next three years.
The New Executive emerged after peaceful re-run elections of the Chapter, held on Friday 10 May 2024, at the Media Centre, of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
Mr. Kelechi Onwudiwe of Classic FM was elected the chairman, Mr Victor Okoye of the News Agency of Nigeria emerged as vice chairman while Mr. Samuel Ahmadu of SavidNews emerged as the secretary.
Niyi Busari of BSN Sports emerged as Financial Secretary, Miss Jean-Frances Nweze of TVC was elected the Treasurer, Joshua Friday of Radio Nigeria, Assistant Secretary; while Joan Iwuchukwu of Precise Post was elected welfare officer.
The Elective Congress, which had 145 voters was supervised by National SWAN President Isaiah Benjamin, and its General Secretary, Ikenna Okonkwo.
Friday’s re-run elections saw Onwudiwe poll 77 votes to pip Tolulope Oguntimehin of ITV, who scored 68 votes, to the chairmanship position after both contestants were tied on 64 votes a fortnight ago.
In another dramatic contest, Nweze won the treasurer position with 73 votes, edging Taofeek Lawal of Tribune who scored 72 votes after both were also tied on 68 votes in the fierce contest held two weeks ago.
Earlier in the April 26 elections, Mr Joshua had emerged as the Assistant Secretary as he polled 104 votes to defeat Nonso Arinzechukwu, who got 32 votes, while Ms Iwuchukwu clinched the welfare officer post after she polled 88 votes to beat Busayo Olowookere, who garnered 48 votes.
Speaking after the election, the National President of SWAN, Mr Benjamin Isaiah expressed happiness over the Chapter’s successful reunification and urged the new FCT leadership to embark on genuine reconciliation.
In his acceptance speech, the new Chairman, Mr Kelechi Onwudiwe assured that his leadership will prioritize inclusivity, welfare, and development of all while thanking the National SWAN and SWANECO team for the successful reunification of the Chapter.
“We are all going to work together to build this association, and nobody should harbour any fear about my new leadership. I am delighted to have emerged and thankful to everyone. I want to thank the National body for midwifing this process – from reconciliation to our election,” the veteran broadcaster said.
“I want to also thank the SWANECO team and the entire Congress for the hitch-free election. We are one body – both those who voted for me and those who didn’t. Nobody will be left out. We are genuinely going to be reunited as FCT SWAN to plan a better future.”
The inauguration of the new FCT SWAN exco was wrapped up with the handover of the association’s assets to the new exco by the immediate past chairman, Mr Ndubueze Chidoka. -
After suffering a loss yesterday to snap their three game winning streak in the Basketball Africa League BAL, Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers are looking forward to making amends in the next game against APR of Rwanda tomorrow.
Rivers slumped 54-56 points to hosts AS Douanes of Senegal in the match, which leaves the Nigerian team’s coach Ogo Odaudu recounting the many mistakes his boys made as they prepare for their 5th tie in the championship.
“First of all we didn’t start very well, it was a major factor, that’s why we struggled the entire game,” Odaudu pointed out.
“We should pay attention to some little things like free throws.
“We lost the game by 2 points but our free throw shooting was like 16 of twenty something, we lost like how many?
” We turned over the ball twenty times.
” We gave up 19 offensive rebounds, we still lost by 2.
“So those are the things we should pay attention to and make sure they don’t happen in our next and we should be fine.”
After the APR game tomorrow, the Sahara Conference leaders Rivers will face Tunisian side US Monastir this Sunday in their last game of the reverse stage, with top two teams in the standings automatically qualifying for the 2024 BAL playoffs in Kigali. -
World record holder over 100meters hurdles Tobi Amusan would aim to bounce back to winning ways as she races against some of the best in the game at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational on May 11th.
Having raced the last time at the Suzhou Diamond League where she suffered some disappointment of a disqualification, Amusan is expected to face stiff challenges from world champion Danielle William’s and US champion Nia Ali.
The Jamaican meet is set to be one of athletics’ highlights this weekend despite the Doha Diamond League, and the spotlight would be on Amusan as she plots to defeat Williams on home soil.
Interestingly, Ali is the fastest in the field this season with her time of 12.44s, while Williams is second in 12.56s with Amusan in third, clocking a time of 12.58s
Yet to kick off her Olympic year with a fast time, the Nigerian track queen will be hoping to finally do that on a fast track under the right atmosphere.
With the stakes high for a famous win and sole bragging rights, each of the three ladies will be gunning to cross the finish line first – an anticipation of a fast race in the speed country. -
Table tennis star Aruna Quadri’s loss in the Saudi Smash yesterday has been attributed to his opponent’s masterful scouting of the Nigerian player..
South Korea’s Daeseong Cho admitted that he was well educated on how to demystify Aruna in the third round of the WTT event.
The 21-year-old defeated the Nigerian 3-2 to qualify for the quarterfinal of the men’s singles in Jeddah.
Aruna’s exploits in previous rounds at the Saudi event contrasted with his third-round tie against South Korea’s Daeseong Cho who accounted for his exit in the tournament.
In the first-round tie against Indian legend Sharath Achanta, the Nigerian saved three match points to beat the Indian, repeating the same feat against South Korea’s Lee Sang-su in the second round.
But on Wednesday, May 8, he failed to capitalise on his luck against the Southpaw Korean.
Despite taking a 2-0 (11-6, 11-7) lead in the match, Aruna was taken aback as he fell 5-11, 9-11 in the third and fourth games to allow the Korean to level up the tie.
Cho turned the tide against the Nigerian to end the clash at 13-11 for the match to finish 3-2 in favour of the 21-year-old Korean star.
For his last 16 effort in Saudi Arabia, Aruna will be rewarded with 175 ranking points which will surely rub off positively on his rating next week. -
Nigeria’s Super Eagles received a major boost ahead of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying double-header against South Africa and Benin Republic following the return to training of Captain William Troost-Ekong.
Super Eagles’ captain William Troost Ekong’s return to training from injury has provided a major boost for the team ahead their doubleheader World Cup qualifying with South Africa and Benin Republic next month.
The AFCON 2023 MVP has been sidelined since undergoing surgery for an injury he sustained in the continental showpiece in Cote d’Ivoire.
The centre-back who scored three goals in Cote d’Ivoire was expected to miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season but has made a quick recovery from the injury.
He is now available for Greek side PAOK Salonica’s last three league games of the season.
Ekong’s return comes timely for the Super Eagles, who are yet to record a win in the world cup qualifiers where they occupy third spot behind Rwanda and South Africa. -
One of the most technically gifted mixed martial arts MMA fighters form Nigeria Horatius Rage Alonu will be shouldering the weight of the nation as he steps into the cage today at EFC 113.
Standing in the way of the Nigerian combat sports powerhouse is submission specialist and homeboy Cole Henning the Hitman who possesses a win loss record of 5-4 with 3 knockout wins.
Despite a limited time for preparation, Alonu who has a record of 10 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws is looking forward to beating his South African opponent in one of the main card fights of the 13 bout EFC 113.
“Am going there to win. 8 didn’t come to play around. Despite the fact that I didn’t prepare very well, but my mind is cool, am calm, am confident, by the grace of God I will win,” said Alonu.
“I expect anything and everything but I want to come out there with my hands raised high.”
Having left behind a heavily pregnant wife who is also a kickboxer and a son, Rage is eager to lock down a win over Henning so that he can rejoin his family in a joyous mood.