Nigerian stars, Aruna Quadri and Bode Abiodun claimed the fourth national men’s table tennis title with Sporting over the weekend.
The champions emerged after they beat Sao Roque CD 3-0 in the second leg of the play-off final held at the Multipurpose Room of the Stadium of Alvalade in Lisbon.
Since joining the Lisbon-based team, Aruna Quadri has been making it to the podium in the Portuguese elite league alongside his compatriot – Abiodun and this becomes his fourth consecutive title with the Portuguese champions.
Quadri was in action for the team when they defeated their opponent 3-0 in the second leg played on Friday May 17 after a narrow 3-2 win in the first leg of the play-off final played on Wednesday May 14.
In the first leg, Sporting beat CD São Roque (STAG) 3-2 in the first game of the Play-off Final of the Men’s National Championship of the 1st Division held in Madeira to have an edge going into the second leg.
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The first leg lasted for more than three hours, with home team – CD Sao Rome could not get their rhythm in the doubles match involving Nuno Henriques and Tiago Li against Sporting Aruna Quadri and Diogo Carvalho as they were losing 2-0, but they recovered and ended up winning by 3-2 ((5-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-8 , 11-4), putting the result in 1-0 for the home team.
The singles match between Zhao Tianming and Aruna Quadri followed, with the Nigerian reaching a 3-1 ((12-10, 6-11, 3-11, 6-11) win.
Tiago Li, a junior player, and João Monteiro returned to play a very disputed game, the longest of the match, which was won by Tiago Li of Sao Roque 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 11 -8, 9-11, 11-3) with the home team having an advantage in the meeting.
Diogo Carvalho tied the game with a 3-0 (6-11, 6-11, 10-12) win over Nuno Henriques and everything was decided in the last match between Zhao Tianming and João Monteiro.
The Portuguese Olympian was not surprised and won 3-1 (9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 3-11), putting Sporting ahead in the Final.
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