22nd September, 2013
Taiwo Adelu
Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri this weekend led his Portuguese table tennis club, G. D. Toledos to win the Portugal Super Cup after beating CP Oliverinha 3-0.
An excited Quadri said: “Winning the Super Cup did not come easy at all as I left Nigeria after the Lagos International Table Tennis Classics to prepare for this tournament. We took part in the first round of European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) Cup in Cyprus and we won all our matches to qualify for the second round as part of build up for the Portuguese Super Cup. I want to say that we prepared enough for the encounter.”
He added: “We won all our matches 3-0 in just 40 minutes. This was unbelievable to us as a team. I must confess that this was a history making feat, as it has never happened before because our victory in previous finals ended for hours.”
Narrating how the match went, the Oyo State-born athlete said: “I gave a perfect start by winning Bruno Silva 11-3,11-4 and 11-5 to set a clean lead for my team, while Andre silva increased the lead by beating Rui Filip by same scoreline with 11-6,11-3 and 11-8. Diego Silva completed the rout by defeating Joao Brandao 11-4,11-4 and 11-7 to end
the match and for us to be crowned the champions.”
P.M.NEWS Sports learnt that winning the cup has added to Quadri’s diadems in the Portuguese table tennis league, having won double last season; the Portuguese Cup and league title.
“Winning the Super Cup took me to the next level in my career and I am so happy for winning my third titles in just one year. I am indeed very happy for winning all the trophies that I have been looking forward to winning since moving to Portugal three years ago to play in the Portuguese league.
“This is the beginning of new dawn in my career and I will not relent in winning more trophies.”
For the new season, he said: “We are expecting tough challenges from our rivals, but we will not underrate any team and we hope to repeat the last season feat by retaining the league title and the Portugal Cup.”