ITTF World Tour: Quadri bows out at China Open

Aruna Quadri must have garnered world ranking points despite his exit from the ITTF World Tour tagged China Open after the Nigerian lost 1-4 to former World and Olympic Champion – China’s Zhan Jike in the third round of the preliminary round of the Men’s singles.

Before clashing against the returnee Chinese star, Quadri had made nonsense of Iran’s Nima Alamian in the second round (round of 64) of the preliminary round.

Having started his campaign against French opponent with a 4-0 bashing, Quadri repeated same result against the Iranian star 15-13, 17-15, 11-4, 11-8 (4-0) to set up an epic clash against Zhan Jike.

Being the second meeting against the Chinese star, the encounter witnessed huge support for Zhan Jike who wanted to fight his way into the main draw but he was made to work for the victory by Quadri.

Despite racing to a 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-9), Quadri gave the Chinese a scare in the fourth game with 8-11 win. The fifth game brought out the best in the two players with the support from the home fans inspiring Zhan Jike.

However, Quadri will benefit from his performance at the Hong Kong and China Opens when the world ranking is released next week by ITTF.

At the Hong Kong Open, the Nigerian made it to the last 16 while he managed to win two out three matches needed to make it to the main draw of the men’s singles.