Aruna Fails To Make The WTT Semi-Final

Aruna was stopped at the quarter-final stage by the better-ranked Brazilian player.

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna, 33, on Monday failed in his bid to get the semi-final of the ongoing WTT Cup Finals at the OCRC Arena in Singapore.

Aruna came up against Brazilian Hugo Calderano in the quarter-final and lost 3-1. Calderano took the first game 11-6, but the Nigerian stormed back to take the second set 11-6. Calderano then upped his game to take the next two games 11-8, 11-4 and stopped the Nigerian’s historic march in Singapore.

Calderano paid Aruna a great complement after the victory, describing the Nigerian as an ‘amazing player’. It was Calderano’s first-ever win over Aruna and he said, “Quadri is an amazing player. He is strong and powerful. I’m just glad to get my first win over him today. I looking forward to some rest before coming back to take on Harimoto.”

Quadri achieved the highest-ever ranking for an African at No.13 with 5,538 points. Fan Zhendong, 24, of China is the world’s No.1 with 12, 645 points.

Calderano set up a semi-final clash against one of table tennis’ rising stars, 18-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto. The fifth-ranked Harimoto defeated Wong Chun Ting 3-1 (11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11).

The prize money for the WTT tournament is $600,000.