Quadri Aruna lost 3-4 in his round of 64 match at the South Paris Arena to Eduard Ionescu of Romania.

Aruna’s hopes of repeating his Rio 2016 quarter-finals performance went up in smoke when the 20-year-old Ionescu made it a thrilling Olympic debut for himself.

He rallied back to win with an 8-11 9-11 6-11 11-8 12-10 11-9 13-11 scoreline, in spite of having played a match earlier in the day.

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The Nigerian won the first three games —-  11-8 11-9 11-6 —- only for Ionesco to turn the match on its head by winning the next two games —- 11-8 12-10—- to take the match to seven games.

His opponent then won 11-9 13-11 to take the match and head to the round of 32.

Earlier in the day, Olajide Omotayo had lost 1-4 to Iranian Noshad Alamiyan.

The result meant both Nigerians are out of the men’s singles event of the competition.

Source: NAN

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Aruna will face Ionesco in a first round match of the men’s singles event.

The pairing emerged following the event’s draw on Wednesday at the South Paris Arena, the venue of the competition.

It presents the Nigerian an opportunity to gain revenge against the Romanian who beat him 2-3 in the semi-finals of the European Champions League.

Teammate Olajide Omotayo faces Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan in another first round pairing on Saturday.

In the women’s singles, Offiong Edem has Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi to contend with, while debutant Fatimo Bello will face Chinese-born French player Jia Nana Yuan.

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The events in the table tennis competition at the Paris Games will run from Saturday to August 10 at the South Paris Arena.

There are five medal events in the competition — men’s and women’s singles, mixed doubles and men’s and women’s team.

The medal matches for women’s singles will also take place on August 3, while the men’s singles medal matches hold on August 4.

The medal matches for the mixed doubles will take place on Tuesday.

Also, the medal matches for the men’s team event are on August 9, with the women’s version taking place on August 10.

Source: NAN

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