Egypt’s Omar Assar advanced to the second round of the men’s singles event at the ongoing 2025 ITTF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, with a dominant 4-1 victory over Croatia’s Frane Kojic on Sunday.
Assar, a quarterfinalist at the 2023 edition in Durban, South Africa, took control early in the match, winning the first set comfortably, 11-7, before dropping the second 9-11.
The 33-year-old star regained his footing, taking the next three sets 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 to seal a 4-1 victory and join Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna in the second round.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian trio of Olajide Omotayo, Matthew Kuti, and Muiz Adegoke were all eliminated in the first round after suffering defeats in their respective matches.
Adegoke fell 4-1 to Belgium’s Adrien Rassenfosse, bouncing back from a 5-11 first-set loss to win the second 11-6. However, the Nigerian faltered and eventually lost the last three sets 10-12, 3-11, 10-12.
Kuti, on the other hand, suffered a 4-0 (1-11, 11-13, 5-11, 5-11) defeat to Poland’s Samuel Kulczycki, while Omotayo went down 4-1 (10-12, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 5-11) to Brazil’s Leonardo Iizuka.
In another thrilling encounter, Egypt’s Youssef Abdelaziz nearly caused a major upset, going head-to-head with Chinese superstar Lin Gaoyuan. Despite a spirited performance, Abdelaziz lost 4-2 (11-6, 2-11, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 6-11), while Algeria’s Mehdi Bouloussa was no match to Japan’s Kenji Matsudaira as he lost 4-0 (8-11, 7-11, 3-11, 10-12).
Africa’s remaining contenders will continue their campaign in the men’s singles, with Assar set to face Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Aruna taking on Norway’s Borgar Haug.
