Paris 2024 Olympics: Assar marches on after Aruna Quadri crashes, qualifies for quarterfinals of table tennis event

Egypt’s Omar Assar qualified for the quarterfinal of the table tennis men’s singles event on Monday when he dispatched Mino Alberto of Ecuador 4-0 in their round of 32 clash at the South Paris Arena 4 in Paris.

The Egyptian won the game 11-5, 13-11, 11-3 and 11-2 as he edges closer to becoming the first African to win a table tennis medal at the Olympics.

Assar will be looking to beat Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, who crashed out in the round of 64, to the honor. Aruna failed to get past the world number one, Ma Long in the quarterfinal stage eight years.

A win for Assar in the quarterfinals against Kazakhstan’s Gerassimenko Kirill who defeated Qiu Dang of Germany 4-3 will guarantee him at least the bronze medal in the event.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Assar finished 5th in the men’s singles event after losing to China’s Ma Long in the quarterfinals.

Also marching on is another Egyptian, Dina Meshref who will also be looking to qualify for the quarterfinal on Wednesday when she faces Japan’s Hayata Hina in a round of 32 clash.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian quartet of Olajide Omotayo, Aruna Quadri, Edem Offiong and Fatimo Bello have all exited the Games after they all crashed out in the first games.