ITTF World Tour: Quadri gets French foe at China Open

Following the round of 16 exit at the Hong Kong Open, Aruna Quadri has been handed a French opponent in the preliminary round of ITTF World Tour tagged China Open holding at Shenzhen Bao’an District Sports Center Gymnasium in South Eastern part of China.an Okusan

Unlike being seeded at the Hong Kong Open, Quadri will have to make efforts to make it to the main draw of the $346,000 prize money tournament, which already has top 16 players in the world seeded.

With three matches to make it to the main draw, Quadri will face France’s Joe Seyfried on Tuesday May 29 while Egypt’s Omar Assar has been listed among the 16 seeded players in the main draw. The African Champion is seeded number 16.

“It was unfortunate I had to lose 4-2 in the last 16 of the Hong Open. It was a painful loss because I knew my opponent – Marcos Freitas very well and I had defeated him twice in our previous meetings. I was just unlucky to have lost and that is table tennis for you. You win some and you lose some. Now I will be heading to China on Sunday May 27 for the China Open and I hope I can do well there to improve my world ranking next month,” Quadri told NationSport.

At the Hong Kong Open, Japan’s Kazuhiro Yoshimura won his first ever ITTF World Tour title at Queen Elizabeth Stadium at the weekend.
In the final fight for the prestigious Men’s Singles title, Yoshimura avenged his elder brother Maharu Yoshimura’s loss earlier in the tournament, by defeating Korea Republic’s Cho Seungmin 4-1 (11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7) to take the title.
In an all-Chinese Women’s Singles Final, world number four Wang Manyu spoiled her teammate Chen Xingtong’s 21st birthday, ending Chen’s hope for a double Gold in Hong Kong. The Chinese duo treated the fans with fascinating table tennis action where WANG eventually prevailed 4-2 (12-10, 11-8, 3-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9) to take the crown.