Africa's top ranked table tennis player, Quadri Aruna, has qualified for the next round of the men's singles event of the on going 2017 Liebherr World Championships in Düsseldorf.

Aruna overcame Chilean Gustavo Gomez in four straight sets (11-2, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3) to set up a clash with Denmark’s Jonathan Groth in the next round on Thursday. His compatriot Segun Toriola lost 11-8, 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 to Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson in the preliminary round.

The 42 year old Olympian however blamed the new ball for his poor performance during the competition. Also exiting the tournament was Olufunke Oshonaike who has crashed out of the tournament after losing to world number nine and Asian Champion, Miu Hirano.Oshonaike had earlier defeated 12 year-old Rizumu Ono from Philippines to advance to the next round but lost in four straight sets (11-8,11-2,11-4,11-1]

Report by Miyen Akiri