Aruna rolls on
Recently 31, crowd favorite Quadri Aruna continued his quest for Gold on home soil as he saw off Egyptian Mohamed El-Beiali in straight games (11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8).
A relentless Aruna looked to be in a hurry as he returned everything El-Beiali threw at him with poise and vigor. Can anyone stop the Nigerian?
Huge upset as Meshref departs
African Cup winner and Egypt fan favorite Dina Meshref was soundly beaten by India’s Sreeja Akula, in a magnificent display by the Asian.
Taking a swift 3-0 kead, Akula sent seismic waves across the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall. Meshref seemed to have been awoken by that, pushing hard in the fourth game. But it was not enough as Akula wrapped up an impressive win 4-0(11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9).
Two Indians too many for Marwa
Egyptian Marwa Alhodaby suffered a second elimination at the hands of an Indian athlete as Pooja Sahasrabudhe clinically defeated her in five games.
After losing out in the Under 21’s to an Indian opponent, Alhodaby looked to be making a slight comeback against Sahasrabudhe. However, it was to no avail as the Indian star upped the ante and took the match 4-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10).
Host nation strikes back
The home fans finally had something to cheer about as Nigerian duo Olajide Omotayo and Segun Toriola moved on to the semi-finals by defeating Belgian brothers Laurens Devos and Robin Devos (11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6).
It was an important victory after a slow start for the hosts this morning. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabians Abdulaziz Bu Shulaybi and Ali Alkhadrawi took down the French pairing Andrea Landrieu and Alexandre Rabinot in a close 3-2 victory.
And the Euro rail moves on
It seems the Europeans are in a united mood to win big in Lagos, as the women’s doubles followed on from the mixed doubles results.
The Romania-Belgium pairing of Andreea Dragoman and Lisa Lung were clinical in seeing off Algerians Katia Kessaci and Lynda Loghraibi (11-6, 11-4, 11-6). At the same time, Russians Polina Mikhailova and Yana Noskova also won in straight games versus Nigerians Funmiola Ajala and Fatima Bello.
All-European final in Nigeria
The host nation were soundly disappointed in the early hours of Saturday as play began with the mixed doubles semi-finals in Lagos. Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo and Cecilia Akpan were unable to beat the Luxembourgian pairing of Eric Glod and Sarah de Nutte.
It was a comprehensive win for Glod & de Nutte as they rounded up the match in straight games, giving Omotayo and Akpan no room to work with (11-6, 11-4, 11-9). They will now face the Germans Kilian Ort and Yuan Wan in the final, who saw off Belgian opposition Lisa Lung and Cedric Nuytinck in similar fashion (11-4, 11-9, 11-7).
Knockout stages continue
Look below for the day’s fixture schedule and make sure to watch along live with itTV: