Aruna Quadri defeats Egypt’s El-Beiali to win 2024 ITTF Africa Cup

Aruna Quadri has defeated Egypt’s El-Beiali Mohamed to win the men’s singles title of the 2024 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Cup.

The 35-year-old Nigerian thrashed his Egyptian opponent in four straight sets to win the title on Tuesday in Kigali, Rwanda.

Aruna finally exorcised the pain of losing in the final of the last three editions of the competition. He last won the competition in 2017 in Agadir, Morocco.

He lost to Egypt’s Omar Assar, his arch-rival, in the 2023 and 2022 editions and was beaten by Ahmed Saleh in 2020.

This one took four finals in seven years before he could reclaim it. Congratulations to Quadri Aruna on winning the #ITTFAfricaCup24 following a 4-0 victory over Mohamed EL Beiali of Egypt. pic.twitter.com/lg8VYnBgrI

— ITTF-Africa (@ITTFAfrica) May 14, 2024

Aruna, however, made no mistake in the latest final, dominating his opponent 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 and 11-3 to clinch the prize.

In the women’s singles, Dina Meshref won the competition for a record-extending ninth time after defeating her compatriot Mariam Alhoudaby in the final.

Meshref had steamrolled Nigeria’s Edem Offiong 4-0 in the semi-final en route to the trophy.

Both Aruna and Meshref have qualified for the qualifier for the 2025 ITTF World Cup in Doha, Qatar.

Following the conclusion of the 2024 ITTF Africa Cup,  the final round of African qualifiers for the Paris Olympics commences on Thursday.