On March 13, the WTT Singapore Grand Slam men's singles quarterfinals ushered in an important match, played by Malone against African brother Aruna.
Aruna is a Nigerian table tennis player. He is also a battle-hardened veteran, 2 months older than Malone.
Aruna is a very strong player. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's singles, breaking the biggest upset in the men's singles competition at that time. It was only in the quarter-finals that Aruna lost 0-4 to the top seed Malone, missing the final four. However, the Results of the Olympic Men's Singles Quarterfinals have created the best history of table tennis in Africa.
Aruna participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games and even boasted that he would "beat the Chinese male table tennis players" and win the medal in this Olympic Games. However, at the Tokyo Olympics, Aruna lost 2-4 to Brazil's Gustavo, and suffered a round trip, which had no chance to touch the Chinese players.
At the Houston World Table Tennis Championships in November 2021, Aruna is unique, holding a green table tennis racket. As we all know, the rackets of table tennis competitions are generally red rubber on one side and black rubber on the other. This is the first time in the history of the World Table Tennis Championships that colored rackets have appeared.
This time again facing the bitter lord Malone, Aruna used a green rubber colored racket. I don't know if I hope that such a racket can bring good luck to me. It's just that such a racket looks a little peculiar, a bit "mother".
Aruna is now ranked 11th in the world. It is very rare for An African player to be able to rank so high. As a result, Aruna is an absolute African brother.
Malone is a very familiar athlete, having won two Olympic singles gold medals. Double circle Grand Slam, while achieving the Golden Slam. Malone is now ranked second in the world, only behind Fan Zhendong.
In the end, Malone defeated Aruna 3-1 to advance to the men's singles round of 16. However, in the last moments of the game, there was an incomprehensible scene, and the Dragons were confused and did not know how to win.
Malone scored a 7-1 start in the first set, with Aruna scoring two straight points to narrow the gap. Malone followed with three consecutive points to win the set point 10-3. Each side scored a point, with Malone winning the first set 11-4.
In the second set, Aruna made a 5-2 start before taking an 8-5 lead over Malone. Aruna scored three straight points to pull back the set 11-5.
Malone scored a 5-2 start in the third set, with Aruna scoring three consecutive runs to tie the score. Marlene took another 8-6 lead. Another three consecutive points won the set 11-6 to give Aruna a 2-1 lead. The race between the two was like a roller coaster ride, with a lot of fluctuations.
In the fourth set, the two played hard, from 4:4 to 7:7, 9:9. Malone called a pause. Marlon pulled the ball out and Aruna won the set point 10-9. Aruna serves, Malone returns the ball, Aruna returns the ball mistake, also introduced. The score became 10:10.
While Malone was still thankful for the equalizer, Aruna said hello to Malone and went off. There was no call for a pause in front of Aruna. This time it can be seen as a pause. Unexpectedly, Aruna put away the beat directly after being on the sidelines. Malone looked at Aruna, also a little confused. What the hell is this dude going to do?
Later, the score in the fourth set was changed to 11:9, and Malone won the set. In the end, Malone defeated Aruna dramatically 3-1 to advance to the men's singles round of 16. Malone can also be regarded as lying in, although with Malone's strength, he can definitely enter.
What happened on the field at that time? One thing is for sure, Aruna took the initiative to leave and put away the beat, and that was to give up the game. As for why he gave up the game, Aruna did not say, and everyone could not understand it. The narrator couldn't understand it, and Ma Long and Qin Zhijian looked at each other and couldn't understand it.
However, Aruna automatically gave up the game, and Malone had to laugh. Maybe Malone didn't expect to win a game in this way.
Xiang Chu estimated that Aruna had sprained his foot. On that last ball, Aruna's foot cocked up, probably sprained. Or maybe the front has been sprained, but Aruna just carried it hard and didn't say it. Of course, that's just my guess.