Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna and Offiong Edem have both qualified for the finals of the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup tournament in Tunisia.
Aruna will face Ahmed Saleh of Egypt in the men’s finals, while Edem has set up an epic final against defending champion Dina Mesherf of Egypt in the women’s event.
It was an expected long battle as Aruna, the highest-ranked African player, faced the number two seeded player of the event Egyptian Omar Assar.
Assar holds a 9-6 head-to-head lead over Aruna, but the world ranked number 18 player showed a great comeback which helped him save the day.
The Nigerian lost the first two sets 5-11 6-11 to the defending champion but came up to win the next two sets 11-4 14-12 to set a tie.
Assar went further to top with a 7-11 point lead but Aruna’s resilience saw him overcome 11-5 12-10 in the last two sets to claim a 4-3 victory over the defending champion.
In the second semi-finals, Saleh made light work of Ibrahima Diaw of Senegal with a 4-1(14-12 11-7 3-11 11-9 11-7) win.
The women’s singles saw Edem claim a 4-2 (6-11 14-16 11-8 11-7 11-7 11-6) win over Yousra Helmy of Egypt.
Meshref also scaled past Sarah Hanffou of Cameroon in a 4-2 (11-6 11-1 11-13 9-11 11-7 11-4) win, a repeat of the 2018 ITTF Africa Cup final.
The finals of both events are scheduled for Wednesday.
