Site Products
Omar Assar: 2018 African Cup

BUTTERFLY FAVORITES: Omar Assar v. Quadri Aruna 2018 Africa Cup

(by Steve Hopkins)

This is a Butterfly Favorite.  To set the stage, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna had won the Africa Cup two years in a row.  The Africa Cup serves as that continent’s qualification event for the World Cup, and like North America, there aren’t a lot of athletes that qualify by World Ranking so winning this event is the only sure route to the World Cup and to the Olympics.  Omar Assar of Egypt entered this event in the shadow of Aruna.  He had had his successes and had competed in the 2012 Olympics, but in major competitions he had yet to break through to the next tier.

But this was a changing of the guard in African table tennis. The 2018 African Cup saw Assar excel through the draw and then finally overcome his top rival.  The final helped launch him to a rating peak, and he came back in 2019 and won the title again.


A message from Omar Assar.  Assar uses a customized Butterfly inner fiber carbon (very similar to the ALC Innerforce Blade) and Tenergy 05.  Check out the Timo Boll ALC ST Pro-Line (an ALC blade with Tenergy 05 pre-assembled)

https://www.facebook.com/butterflyttofficial/videos/1334668800054343/

Latest News

MLTT Week 4 Recap: Chicago Wind Steady at Home, New York Slice Make Their Mark

October 26, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Fourth Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) event was played in Bensenville, Illinois… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Joyous Table Tennis Club

October 26, 2025
(By Steve Hopkins) Joyous Table Tennis Club provides 8 professional tables in one of the largest professional table… Read More

France takes Gold in Euro Team Championships

October 26, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo ETTU) The French team with the Lebrun brothers, Simon Gauzy, Thibault Poret, and Flavien… Read More

Jha to Face Calderano as Draws for Montpellier are Posted

October 26, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) USA’s Kanak Jha will see action on Wednesday, on the second day of the WTT… Read More

Dang Qiu Wins WTT London

October 26, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Dang Qiu benefitted from some upsets in his half of the draw at this week’s… Read More

Sanuka Herath – 2025 Canadian Senior Table Tennis Championships

October 26, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Bowmar Sports Tournament Highlights, Sanuka Herath is in action at the 2025 Canadian… Read More

Taiwo Adeyinka – Backhand Loop from underspin

October 25, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips,  Taiwo Adeyinka is in action at the Atlanta Open https://youtu.be/TQQMo7vKMqU… Read More

Put Your Whole Bodyweight Into The Table

October 24, 2025
Serve, short game, flip with defense to offense (wait function) Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.