Aruna takes Fulda to third spot in Bundesliga
Quadri Aruna showed why he remains a strong pillar of TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell in the matchday 7 of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) after the Nigerian led the home team to end the winning streak of TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.
Fulda prevailed 3-2 to rise to third place in the table tennis Bundesliga.
The support from the home fans of TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell was enough as Aruna recorded one of the biggest wins of his career to throw the fans into a frenzy at the venue of the match.
Aruna defeated the duo of Maciej Kubik and Simon Gauzy while the partnership of Alexandre Cassin and Fan Bo Meng aided the 3-2 crucial win by Fulda at the weekend.
With five wins from seven matches, Fulda occupied third spot behind league leader Borrusia Dusseldorf and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.
“In the end, we deserved to win,” said Fulda coach Qing Yu Meng after the game.
“It was a great game, and thanks to a large number of spectators, the atmosphere was finally fantastic again after a long time. Hopefully, things will continue like this on Sunday in the German Cup.”
For Ochsenhausen, on the other hand, a sensational winning streak came to an end.
“Both teams played great and fought hard”, admitted TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen coach Fu Yong. “Fulda was very strong.”
Aruna and the pair of Cassin and Meng made the difference for Fulda.
It was the strong comeback of Aruna, world number 16, who had paused due to a shoulder injury, but now came back stronger.
In the opening singles Aruna beat Maciej Kubik 3: 1 (11: 8, 5:11, 11: 7, 11: 9), in the top singles he then grabbed his best table tennis and also defeated Simon Gauzy 3: 1 (11: 9, 11: 5, 3:11, 11: 5) – the Fulda audience celebrated the top player for this performance.
Fulda’s second success factor was the new dream doubles of Cassin and Meng who were playing together for the fourth time, and for the third time, they won their match.
Before the tie, Samuel Kulczycki and Maciej Kubik have been unbeaten and their winning streak came to an end with a 3: 1 (11: 9, 6:11, 11: 8, 11: 8) defeat to Cassin and Meng as they had already made the difference against TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt and SV Werder Bremen.
In the meantime, Ochsenhausen seemed closer to victory after Aruna’s opening win but Gauzy made a brilliant performance with sensational points and beat Ruwen Filus 3: 1 (8:11, 11: 8, 11: 8, 11: 4 ), then Kanak Jha won 3: 1 (5:11, 11: 9, 11: 8, 11: 9) against Cassin to lead Ochsenhausen 2: 1. But Aruna’s win over Gauzy with the doubles’ victory gave the home fans something to cheer.
Also on Sunday, October 10, Fulda continued their good performance led by Aruna with a visit to TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau in the round of 16 of the German Cup and it was Fulda that laughed last with a 3-0 win to berth in the quarterfinal of the German Cup.
Source: Nigeria Table Tennis Association