Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri rallied on Wednesday from two sets down to defeat World number five Hugo Calderano of Brazil, 3-2, at the ongoing World Table Tennis (WTT) men’s finals in Doha.

Aruna, currently ranked 16th in the WTT rankings, came into the match as the underdog, having lost to his Brazilian counterpart on two previous occasions.

As expected, Calderano started on the front foot as he raced onto the lead, taking the first two sets 11-7 and 11-2 in quick succession.

However, Quadri pulled the biggest surprise of the tournament so far as he came back from two sets down to stun the favourite 7-11, 2-11, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 at the end of a pulsating five-set encounter.

The result meant Quadri booked a quarter-final berth against WTT’s number-one ranked player, Fan Zhendong of China, on Thursday.

This was after Zhendong also survived a scare to defeat WTT ranked number 14 player Darko Jorgic of Serbia 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 17-19, 11-8 to win 3-2, following a nervy five-set decider.

“I just never give up. I was fighting and fighting. My coach today made a big difference. I tried so many things, but he kept encouraging me and told me not to give up. I am very happy that I didn’t give up, and it worked out in the end,” Quadri said.

The tournament, with a prize money of $340,000, was served off at the Infinity Arena in Doha on Wednesday and is expected to end on Friday. 

(NAN)