ARUNA Quadri and Bode Abiodun are edging toward making history in Europe as the first Africans and Nigerians to make it to the semi final of the European Table Tennis Union, ETTU Champions League. The Nigerians are leading their Portuguese team in the first leg of the quarterfinal round of the competition.

Still basking in the euphoria of the Portuguese Cup triumph recently, coupled with the huge home support in Lisbon, as the first team from the non-European nation to feature and made it far in the competition. They are also aiming to make history.

According to Quadri, it took personal commitment from the players for the management of Sporting to be convinced to register the team for the tournament. Apart from incurring extra cost to offset the travelling expenses for the team to honour away matches, the extra work from the coaching were among the concerns of the management.

And when the team was drawn with two former champions, the doubt of the Sporting management was made real. But beyond every expectation, the team made up of Quadri, Abiodun and Portuguese internationals – João Monteiro and Diogo Carvalho, the team proved bookmakers wrong by finishing second in the group of four to become the first Portuguese team to achieve such feat.

Now the stage is set for another hurdle to be crossed by the team and Quadri believes, the team remains unstoppable owing to the current form of the players and the enormous support they have been getting from the management.

Despite the pedigree of the French side which has Chinese-born duo of Tianyuan Chen and Shihao Wei as well as Romania’s Adrian Crisan and France’s Brice Ollivier, Quadri believes they are primed to make it to the last four.

“Nobody gave us any chance of qualifying from the group when we were paired with two former champions but we showed what we can do and I am sure people now take us serious and know that we can achieve anything with the mindset of the players coupled with the ingenuity of the coaching crew.

“Having played in the French league, I am sure we can do it against this French champion because we did against a former champion and a French side in the group stage. Our fans will support us and we hope and confidence that our efforts would see us through,” Quadri said.

–  Jan. 26, 2018 @ 13:21 GMT