Aruna Quadri on Sunday won silver in the men’s table tennis singles event at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Hosts Australia won the Games with 80 gold, 59 silver and 59 bronze. England came second with 45 gold, 45 silver and 46 bronze followed by India with 20 gold, 20 silver and 26 bronze. Thirty-nine countries won medals in the competition which ended on Sunday.
Nigeria placed ninth with nine gold, nine silver and six bronze.
The country won two gold, two silver and one bronze in athletics and two bronze in boxing. The powerlifters won four gold and two silver while the table tennis team won three silver. The wrestling team won three gold, two silver and three bronze.
Nigeria won 11 gold, 11 silver 14 bronze to place eight at the 2014 edition of the Games in Glasgow in 2014.
Quadri, who is the top seeded player at the Games, lost 4-2 to Singapore’s Gao Ning. The Portugal-based player lost the first two sets 11-9, 11-8 but he came back to tie the game in the third and fourth sets after claiming 11-5, 11-3 wins. However, Ning took the last two sets 11-9, 11-5 to win gold.
At the 2014 edition in Glasgow, Scotland, Quadri lost to Ning in the round of 16.
India’s Sharath Achanta, who Quadri defeated in four straight sets to get to the final, clinched bronze after defeating England’s Samuel Walker 4-1.
Quadri’s performance makes him the second Nigerian to play in the final of the men’s singles at the Commonwealth Games. Segun Toriola is the other Nigerian to feature in the final of the men’s singles – he defeated Canadian Johnny Huang to win gold at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, Quadri said he was satisfied with the silver he won as it was better than going for bronze.
“It is not the result that I wanted but I am still very satisfied with my performance and silver is better than bronze,” Quadri was quoted as saying on the ITTF website.
“I am grateful to all those who supported me throughout the Games – my club, Sporting Clube de Portugal, my wife and family, those who prayed for my success and others. It’s time to return to Portugal and face the next challenge in Portuguese league semi-final.”
