Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been knocked out of the ITTF Men’s World Cup in Macao after a 3-0 defeat to Japan’s Sora Matsushima in his second and final Group 6 match on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Official results list Matsushima as the winner, confirming Aruna’s exit from the singles event.
Aruna went into the contest needing a big response after opening his campaign with a straight-sets loss to Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar. That opening defeat left the Nigerian under pressure in a group format where only the group winner advances to the knockout stage.
Instead, Matsushima took control of the match and closed it out in straight sets, ending Aruna’s hopes of reaching the last 16. The result also means Nigeria’s challenge in the men’s singles draw is over.
The exit is another setback for Aruna, who remains one of the biggest names in African table tennis and still stands as the only African player to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, a milestone he achieved in Düsseldorf in 2014.
For Matsushima, the win strengthened his control of Group 6 and underlined why he arrived in Macao as one of the highest-ranked players in the field. For Aruna, attention will now shift to his next major assignments after another difficult outing on the global stage.
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