African Games: Quadri gold jinx continues, Edem wins first medal

Nigeria’s highest-ranked table tennis player, Aruna Quadri, lost the men’s singles final of the table tennis event of the 2024 African Games to arch rival Omar Assar in Acrra, Ghana on Tuesday.

Quadri lost 4-3 to the Egyptian to settle for silver, Nigeria’s second medal at the Games, after Offiong Edem had earlier claimed bronze in the women’s singles event on Tuesday.

Quadri, who is making his fourth appearance at the Games in Accra since his debut at the 2011 edition in Maputo, Mozambique has never won an African Games gold medal.

In Maputo, he reached the semi-finals and eventually finished fourth, while at the 2015 edition in Brazzaville, Congo, he qualified for his first-ever final in the men’s singles event but lost the pulsating final 4-3 to Assar.

A the 2019 edition in Rabat, Morocco he stopped Assar from reclaiming the title in the semi-finals, only to lose it to compatriot Olajide Omotayo in the final.

In Accra, Quadri defeated two Egyptians in the quarter-finals and semi-finals to reach the final, first beating Mohammed Abdel Aziz, before dispatching El Beiali Mohamed 4-0.

For Quadri, it’s another mission unaccomplished at the Games, as he had hoped to eventually claim the elusive gold in Ghana but he insists he lives to fight another day.

“It’s really hard and tough. But of course, we keep fighting and fighting. It’s not about winning all the time, it’s about sportsmanship,” Quadri said.

This is why we are professionals; this is what we are made to do. It’s always a very difficult match; it shows that the level of the competition is actually improving.”

Meanwhile, Offiong Edem became the first athlete to earn Nigeria a medal at the Games in Ghana after finishing in the top three of the women’s singles of the table tennis event on Tuesday.

The Spain-based star played her best matches in the last 16 and quarter-finals when she defeated the Alhodaby twins – Marwa and Mariam – to join the league of medallists in the women’s singles.

Set up against defending champion Dina Meshref of Egypt in the semi-finals, Edem caved in with a 4-0 defeat to settle for bronze, just like she did at the 2019 edition in Rabat, Morocco.

“I am so happy that we were able to attend the last World Championships in Korea and this really helped my game a lot. I want to thank the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation for their support and I believe attending such a competition really helped me personally here in Ghana.

“The Egyptians are ahead of us because they attend more competitions than us and we hope we can get such support to return to the top of the game in Africa,” Edem said.