Sports
WTT: Aruna Reaches Last 16, Battles Korean Foe
Aruna Quadri will faceoff with South Korea’s Cho Dae-seong in the men’s singles round of 16 of the World Table Tennis Saudi Smash 2024, taking place in Jedda.
The Nigerian once again showed character as he came from behind to edge Lee Sang Su of South Korea 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11, 7, 11-1, 11-3) in a round of 32 slugfest at King Abdullah Sports City Infinity Arena on Monday morning.
The nail-biting win set up the potentially scintillating clash with the 21-year-old world No. 45, who will be looking to avenge the defeat of his compatriot.
Aruna made a flying start to his Saudi Smash campaign by coming from behind to beat Sharath Kamal Achanta 2-3 (11-8, 13-8, 8-11, 5-11, 11-13), who won two singles titles at the ITTF Pro Tour, the first in 2010, and reached the semi-finals in the men’s singles event at the 2017 World Championship.
Aruna’s virtuoso performance in the gruelling encounter delighted Nigerian women’s table tennis legend, Funke Oshonaike, who rooted ceaselessly for him and shared her excitement on her Facebook page after the match.”
What a match between the experience legend Achanta and our own Quadri Aruna! I was so very tensed because Achanta was leading 2-0. Aruna eventually won 3-2. yesssssssss! Me and table tennis sha na 5/6,” Oshonaike, the only woman to have participated in seven Olympic Games, said.
Battle-weary Aruna shared his experience in the match on the official website of the tournament saying, “It was really, really difficult to come back from 0-2 down. I was 8-2 up in the first game and 9-5 up in the second set, but I lost both, so I almost gave up. But I told myself not to give up, and the spirit of never giving up made the difference. In the end, I was very happy to win. I knew it was going to be 50/50 today. Achanta is a good player and a legend. I have learned a lot from him growing up. But I wasn’t intimidated. Thanks to all the fans who came to support me. They didn’t let me give up. They were the reason I kept on fighting, so I want to say thanks to all of them.
“The $2m prize money Saudi Smash 2024 is the sixth tournament of the WTT Series 2024. It started May 1 and will run through May 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor