By Olawale Alabi
Nigeria will begin the quest for medals in the table tennis competition of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with Quadri Aruna taking on Romania’s Eduard Ionescu on Saturday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Aruna will face Ionesco in a first-round match of the men’s singles event.
The pairing emerged following the event’s draw on Wednesday at the South Paris Arena, the venue of the competition.
It presents the Nigerian an opportunity to gain revenge against the Romanian who beat him 2-3 in the semi-finals of the European Champions League.
Teammate Olajide Omotayo faces Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan in another first-round pairing on Saturday.
In the women’s singles, Offiong Edem has Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi to contend with, while debutant Fatimo Bello will face Chinese-born French player Jia Nana Yuan.
NAN reports that events in the table tennis competition at the Paris Games will run from Saturday to Aug. 10 at the South Paris Arena.
There are five medal events in the competition: men’s and women’s singles, mixed doubles, and men’s and women’s teams.
The medal matches for women’s singles will also take place on Aug. 3, while the men’s singles medal matches will hold on Aug. 4.
The medal matches for the mixed doubles will take place on Tuesday.
Also, the medal matches for the men’s team event are on Aug. 9, with the women’s version taking place on Aug. 10.
