Quadri rises to a record 15th place in the ITTF rankings

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has set a new African record when he became the first player on the continent to rank in the top 15 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Investment.

In the new rankings released by the World Table Tennis Governing Body on September 14, Aruna, who was second in the Cameroon 2021 ITTF men’s singles, rose four steps up the ranking ladder to 15th place.

Aruna became the first African to achieve this in the world rankings, while eliminating the 16th place achieved by Egypt’s Omar Assars in January 2018.

Arunas ’undefeated run ended in the final of the Cameroon tournament when he lost to Assar 4-1 and for his performance, the former world table tennis player during the year earned points to join the world’s elite club.

In addition, his collaboration with Bode Abiodun won the men’s singles in Cameroon, and the duo have achieved ranking points to place the ITTF in the world’s 20th men’s singles.

Assar became the men’s singles champion in Cameroon and rose eight steps up to 28th place in his latest standings.

Assars compatriot Ahmed Saleh also collected ranking points to move to 47th place in the world, Senegalese Ibrahima Diaw rose 10 steps to 59th, while Olajide Omotayo rose to 87th place in the world.

In the women’s standings, Cameroon’s bronze medalist and six-time African champion Egypt Dina Meshref remained at the top of the continent after rising to 35th place.

Meanwhile, Chinese duo Fan Zhendong and Meng Cheng remained at the top of the standings as players in the world’s best men’s and women’s division.