Nigeria’s top ranked star, Quadri Aruna and Egypt’s Hana Goda have kept Africa’s hopes alive at the 2025 ITTF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, as they advanced to the third round of the singles events in impressive fashion on Monday.
With a lot of Africans exiting on day three of the championships, Aruna showed his experience to overcome Norway’s Borgar Haug 4-2 in a gripping men’s singles contest at Qatar University.
The Nigerian who is coincidentally Africa’s top-ranked player, was forced to dig deep against Haug, whose lower world ranking contradicted an inspiring performance.
Aruna won the opening set 11-7, but the Norwegian responded with by winning the second set 11-3. The match turned into a thrilling back-and-forth encounter, with Aruna winning the third set 11-8, Haug levelling again in the fourth, and the Nigerian regaining the edge 11-7 in the fifth.
The decisive sixth set eventually decided the match. Aruna led 9-7, but Haug rallied to level at 9-9. Aruna edged ahead 10-9, but the Norwegian equalised once more.
Drawing from his years of experience, Aruna held firm to claim the next two points, sealing the set 12-10 and the match 4-2 to become the last African male standing in the singles draw after Egypt’s Omar Assar had also lost to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas in a tight 4-3 battle (11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 3-11, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12), to bow out in the second round.
His next opponent is Germany’s Benedikt Duda, a familiar face on the professional circuit, as he continues his campaign towards a historic podium finish in Doha.
In the women’s singles, African champion Hana Goda delivered a commanding 4-1 victory over Brazil’s Giulia Takahashi to reach the third round.
The 16-year-old, who exited in the second round in Durban in 2023, dropped the first set 9-11 but responded with four consecutive wins (11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7) to wrap up the match in style.
Aside from a brief slip in the fourth set, where she trailed twice, Goda dominated proceedings with precision shot selection and tactical variety that overwhelmed her South American opponent.
Her next challenge, however, is a daunting one — a third-round clash against tournament fourth seed Wang Yidi of China.
Goda is now the only African woman remaining in the singles event, after Madagascar’s Hanitra Raharimanana fell to Germany’s Sabine Winter in straight sets (11-2, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4) earlier in the day.