Africa’s No. 2 and Egyptian table tennis star Omar Assar further etched his name in the folklore of African history in the Olympics following a unique show of resilience and skill on Thursday.
The 2023 African Games champion has become the first player from the continent to reach consecutive quarterfinals at the Olympic Games.
The 33-year-old secured a 4-2 comeback win over Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko in the men’s singles tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
After a challenging start that saw him trailing 2-0, Assar staged an impressive comeback, clinching the next four games with scores of 12-10, 12-10, 11-9, and 11-3.
Assar, who tied Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna’s record after he reached the last eight in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, keeps alive the hope of surpassing his quarterfinal record set three years ago.
His journey to the quarterfinals was marked by a series of convincing wins, including an 11-5, 13-11, 11-3, 11-2 victory over Ecuador’s Mino Alberto and a 4-1 win against Madagascar’s Fabio Rakotoarimanana.
Up next for Assar is a familiar foe in Sweden’s Truls Moregard, who he will face in the men’s singles quarterfinals, as the Egyptian will be hoping to another milestone and become the first African to get to the semifinals.
