Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s Aruna Quadri is the only African player ranked among the top 20 table tennis players in the world in the aftermath of his victory at the African Championship in Rades, Tunisia, reports Prime Business Africa.
In the latest International Table Tennis Federation rankings, Aruna has moved up two places to the 16th position in the world and undisputed number one in Africa.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAt the recent tournament in Tunisia, while Nigeria in the team game final succumbed to Egypt, Quadri remained resolute and retained his African crown at the expense of Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh in the Singles Men final.
The Nigerian top seed defended his men’s singles title with a convincing 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) amidst missing a direct qualifying spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The latest ranking released by the table tennis international body shows that the Nigerian international moved from his previous 18th position to 16th.
Aruna earned 500 ranking points for a total of 1260 and remains the best-ranked African player.
He is the only African player in the world top 20.
“I am happy with the title because I have a good and bad memory of Tunis, having got injured here during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualification,” the 35-year-old said.
“Winning another title here is good to erase the bad memory. This win will remain with me for a long time. I am happy and I look forward to the next challenge.”
Since 2018, Aruna has secured three African singles titles, triumphed in doubles three times, and victorious in two team events.
Meanwhile, 17 year old, Taiwo Mati is the second Nigerian to feature in the top 100 in the world though he dropped two places again to 92nd in the world with 207 points.
The Nigerian duo of Omotayo Olajide and Bode Abiodun made appreciable improvements as they moved up from 264 and 294 spots respectively to rank 104 and 146.
Meanwhile, the trio of Amadi Omeh, Azeez Solanke and Riliwan Akanbi dropped in the latest rankings for men.
Omeh, who dropped four spots, is now placed 169th. Akanbi on his part dropped four spot in the recent ranking released to 273 just as Solanke dropped two spots to 286th.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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