Nigerian table tennis team made up of Veterans Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola, as well as Olajide Omotayo were beaten 3-2 by their Polish counterparts in their five-game contest at the 2020 ITTF World Team Qualification Tournament in Gondomar, Portugal on Thursday, Completesports.com reports.
In the doubles match, Toriola and Omotayo recorded the Nigerian team’s first loss of the day when they bowed 3-1 (11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-2) to Poland’s pair of Samuel Kulczycki and Marek Badowski.
World number 18 Quadri lost to Poland’s Jakub Dyjas – a world number 71, in the second match 3-1 (11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 11-5). It was an upset in the singles that reverberated through the table tennis fraternity.
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Dyjas, a runner-up at the 2019 ITTF Challenge Slovenia Open made it up to the next level in Gondomar where he was unbeaten the men’s event.
The Nigerian team then put up a spirited fightback in their next two singles clashes with Omotayo pipping Marek Badowski (9-11, 17-15, 11-6, 11-7) while Quadri bounced backed from his defeat to Dyjas to edge out Samuel Kulczycki (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5).
The overall match scoreline was 2-2 going into decider, but Toriola flunked his chance of going to his eighth Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020, losing to the Polish hero Dyjas (10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8). And it ended 3-2 overall win for Poland against Nigeria at the 2020 ITTF World Team Qualification Tournament.
