Aruna Quadri and Abiodun Bode have won Gold medal in the Men’s Doubles final at the 2021 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African Championship in Yaounde.
The duo defeated Khalid Assar and Saleh Ahmed of Egypt 4-2 on September 6, 2021 to reclaim the men’s doubles gong for Nigeria.
Egypt’s Omar Assar and Mariam Alhodaby won the respective men’s singles and women’s singles titles at the 2021 African Championships in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Tuesday 7th September, 2021.
For Omar Assar he prevailed for the third time, having won in 2015 and 2016; for Mariam Alhodaby, it was a first.
After earlier in the day accounting for Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw (11-4, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6), Omar Assar secured the title at the final expense of Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna (13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4), the defending champion.
At the quarter-final stage Quadri Aruna had ended the progress of Ahmed Ali Saleh, also from Egypt (10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4).
The success gained by Omar Assar was not unexpected; that of Mariam Alhodaby was a major upset.
Following a six games win against Egypt’s Yousra Helmy (11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 18-20, 11-5); at the final hurdle she recovered from a three games to one deficit to beat compatriot Hana Goda in seven games (14-12, 5-11, 7-11, 11-13, 11-6, 13-11, 11-6).
Earlier in the proceedings, Omar Assar and Dina Meshref had won the mixed doubles, accounting for compatriots Khalid Assar and Yousra Helmy in the final (11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8).
Likewise, Farah Abdel-Aziz and Yousra Helmy had secured the women’s doubles title, Nigeria’s Bode Abiodun and Quadri Aruna, the men’s doubles, the only title to elude Egyptian hands.
