Nigeria’s duo of Aruna Quadri and Bode Abiodun made it five Portuguese Cup titles in a row at the weekend after their team – Sporting, beat GDCS Juncal 3-0 to retain the Portuguese Cup.
Also, the women’s team of Sporting Club started their return to the first division on a good note by claiming the Portuguese Cup at the expense of GD Toledos in the finals played at the Municipal Sports Pavilion of Póvoa de Varzim.
In the report monitored on the Portuguese Table Tennis Federation website, Sporting has won the last four editions to increase their titles to 26 in the Portuguese Cup. The men’s team made up of Nigeria’s duo of Aruna Quadri and Bode Abiodun, as well as Portuguese internationals – Joao Monteiro and Diogo Carvalho, proved why they remain the best team in Portugal.
The 2018 semifinalists in the ETTU Champions League were in fine form against GDCS Juncal with Nigerian superstar – Aruna Quadri, championing the onslaught against their opponent.
Playing the first game against Andrei Bukin, Aruna Quadri wasted no time to dismiss the Russian with a 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-6) bashing.
But it was not same story for Diogo Carvalho who had to dig deep to defeat Romanian Mihai Sargu 3-2 (11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 11-13, 11-7).
The partnership of Bode Abiodun and Diogo Carvalho completed the rout for Sporting when they overcame the duo of David Bessa and Andrei Bukin 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-9) to lift the trophy for the fifth time in a row.
To berth in the men’s final, Sporting had defeated ADC Ponta do Pargo in the semi-finals (3-1), the CD São Roque in the quarterfinals (3-0), and CTM Lagos in the round of 16 (3-0).
The women’s team of Sporting made their return to the elite division of the Portuguese League after playing in the lower division last season.
