Aruna becomes first African to rise into ITTF top 15

Aruna Quadri has become the first African player to be ranked in the top 15 of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking.

The Nigerian rose four places in the latest ranking released on September 14 to place 15th best table tennis player in the world.

The ranking ensures Aruna breaks the previous record of 16th-place set by Egypt’s Omar Assar in January 2018.

The Nigerian garnered enough ranking points at the 2021 ITTF African championship despite losing 4-1 to Assar in the final.

In the doubles ranking, his partnership with Bode Abiodun also rose to 20th in the world after the duo crushed everyone in their path to winning the event in Yaounde.

Olajide Omotayo also rose nine places to rank number 87 in the world while Abiodun picked 144th.

Winning the men’s singles in Yaounde earned Assar eight steps up in the ranking to 28th in the world, while Ahmed Saleh was 47th.

In the women category, Edem Offiong led the Nigerian contingent with 1990 points to rank 107th, while Funke Oshonaike followed in a distant 169th with 1322 points.

Meanwhile, China’s duo of Fan Zhendong and Meng Cheng held the top spots in the men’s and women’s ranking.