Aruna who reached the quarter-finals of the event at the Rio
Games in 2016 could not go far this time around as he lost 2-4 in the third
round.
Aruna was ousted in a fiercely contested Round 3 matchup losing
4-2 (15-13, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11) to Brazilian, Gustavo Tsuboi on
Tuesday morning.
He now joins fellow compatriot Funke Oshonaike, Offiong
Edem, and Olajide Omotayo in taking the 13,489 km long- journey back to
Nigeria.
Record-breaker and ITTF ‘Club 7’ inductee, Olufunke
Oshonaike, was first to cave in to a relentless display from 449th rank female,
Liu Juan of the US.
She lost in four sets 1-4 (7-11 3-11, 4-11, 13-11, 4-11) in
the Preliminary Round Results.
Tiago Apolonia of Portugal was too much for Olajide Omotayo,
beating the Nigerian in five straights of 0-4 (11-7 11-9 11-6 11-5) in the
Men’s preliminary round of the event.
Earlier, Edem Offiong made a bright start to the tournament
dispatching her opponent from Hungary, Madarasz Dora in 35mins by 4-1 (11-8
11-9 11-9 9-11 11-4).
She however could not sustain the tempo going into her round
2 match against Zhang Lily of the USA.
The tables were reversed, with the American showing her
dominance over Effiong.
The 2007 All-Africa Games women’s doubles medalist put in a
valiant performance in the first game securing a 15-13 win.
Zhang exhibited good composure to take the second and third
games by an 11-2 margin.
Some spirited play from the 35- year-old Nigerian was not
enough to rescue the fourth and fifth game as she bowed out of the tournament,