By AUSTIN OKON-AKPAN

South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon has ended Quadri Aruna impressive run at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender in Doha.

The Nigerian, who created a new African record as the first player from the continent to reach the semi-final of the WTT Star Contender, also became the first player in the world to defeat three top Chinese players in a row to book a place in the last four.

But at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar on Thursday, Aruna could not break his Korean opponent and lost 4-2 to miss out on the final action.

Jonghoon leads the head-to-head encounter 2-0, but the African top player didn’t go down without a fight. Despite going down 3-1 to the Korean, Aruna took the fifth game 12-10 and fought his way back to 2-3. But Jonghoon maintained his perfect record against Aruna with a 4-2 (8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-1, 10-12, 11-5) win.

The 25-year-old World No. 47 was beaten 4-2 in the final by Croatia’s Andrej Gacina.

A satisfied Aruna expressed happiness over his performance in Qatar having lost early in the WTT Contender earlier this month.

“I want to thank all my fans across the globe for their support and I hope to continue to work harder so that I can continue to make them happy,” he said. “I think it was not my day today but I hope to be back again on a big stage like this. I thank the organisers for creating a conducive environment for us to showcase our talents. I will return to training with the aim of doing better in the next tournament,” Aruna said.

For reaching the semis, Aruna will get 210 ranking points and that will put him in a good place to make the top 10 in the world ranking. (Channels TV)

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