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My quarterfinal ticket, a miracle, says Quadri

By Christian Okpara
10 August 2016   |   2:49 am
Quadri became the first African to play in the quarterfinal of the men’s singles at Rio 2016 Olympic Games after beating Timo Boll, the former World no. 1 and the no. 10 seeds in Rio de Janeiro on Monday night.
Aruna Quadri…fighting his way to the quarterfinal stage in Rio on Monday night.

Aruna Quadri…fighting his way to the quarterfinal stage in Rio on Monday night.

2014 ITTF star player, Aruna Quadri, has described his quarterfinal ticket at the on-going Rio Olympic Games as a miracle.

Quadri became the first African to play in the quarterfinal of the men’s singles at Rio 2016 Olympic Games after beating Timo Boll, the former World no. 1 and the no. 10 seeds in Rio de Janeiro on Monday night.

“This is amazing. I don’t know what to say, my fans made the victory possible,” Quadri said. “Thank you to all the Brazilian spectators for their support; they gave me so much energy; this feels so good, it is a dream comes true that I am in the quarter-finals.”

Quadri, a quarter-finalist at the Liebherr 2014 Men’s World Cup in the German city of Düsseldorf, becomes the first ever African to achieve the feat at the Olympics.

Incredibly, Quadri withstood a brave recovery by the German after winning the first three games to secure a six games success (12-10, 12-10, 11-5, 3-11, 5-11, 11-5).

A disappointed Boll said: “He has surprised a lot of people. I knew he was good coming into the match. I just have to say well played! His whole game is different, so it took me a while to work it out. Once I was 0-3 down I started to get more into the match, but it was already too late.”

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