CLOSE-UP: Aruna, first African to be named among the world’s top 25 tennis players

The history of table tennis in Nigeria is rich and interesting with stories of stars who achieved so much and competed with the best ping pong experts at the world level in major international championships.

Names like Atanda Musa, Yomi Bankole and others quickly come to mind but if there is one likely break the jinx of an Olympic medal in the near future, it certainly is Quadri Akinade Aruna.

Aruna, who cites Atanda Musa as his role model, has gone on to surpass his mentor in all respects of achievements. He not only became the best in Africa, he has won laurels at the biggest levels.

He got to the quarter-final of the Olympics and still has the time to try to beat that record again at the next Olympic Games. His record (listed below) simply speaks for itself and he is still on a high, most likely destined to become Africa’s best ever tennis player.

Aruna, a member of the Nigeria security and civil defence corps (NSCDC), flagged off his journey to stardom on the streets of the Old Oyo town.

He attended Oba Adeyemi High School, Oyo state, Nigeria where he represented the school, Oyo east local government area and Oyo state at various table tennis competitions.

Born on August 9, 1988, Aruna represented Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics and created history in a thrilling encounter, defeating his German opponent, Boll Timo, 4-2 to seal a surprise berth in the quarter-final of men’s single table tennis event.

Before the victory over Timo, Aruna was only at par with legend Segun Toriola, who at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China made it to the fourth round.

After an awesome display at Rio in which he caused a major upset in Round 3, beating Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan 4-0, many knew it would be suicidal to bet against the Nigerian who seemed to have hit his peak at the right time.

In 10 minutes, Aruna blew away his German opponent, winning the first three sets 12-10 12-10, 12-5. However, German star, Boll, who is ranked number 10 in Rio, halted his run as he took the fourth set and fifth set 11-3, 11-5.

In the keenly-contested sixth set, Aruna held his nerves to win 11-9 and thus enter into the history books as the first African table tennis player to go that far.

He identified the lack of aggressive grassroots development programmes as responsible for the dwindling fortune of table tennis in Africa.

After losing at the London 2012 Olympics, he had said: “Athletes from Europe, Asia and other continents start from the grassroots, which is not the case in Africa.

“And for Nigeria and Africa to win medals at the Olympics, there must be proper grassroots sports development, which will teach the basics and techniques of the game when the athletes are still young.”

Married to a female table tennis player, Aruna emerged the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) 2014 star player of the year. On Tuesday, the ITTF ranked him 25th in the world, making him the first African to be so rated.

Back in August, Quadri was ranked 40th in the world with 2305 points, but his scintillating outing in Brazil earned him 152 points for him to garner 2457 points in September to rise to his latest position.

The 2015 ITTF Star Player of the Year was also listed among the most active players in the world, due to his rise from 40th in August to 25th in September.

He helped his club, Sporting Lisbon, to clinch the 2015/2016 Portugal Cup, defeating SL Benfica 3-0 to obtain his third title with his club.

Quadri will play in the 2016 Men’s World Cup in Germany from October 1 to 3.

Highlights of his career are as follows:

AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Champion, 2010 Cameroon Invitational
Quarter-finalist, Men’s Single 2007
Semi-finalist, Doubles 2007
Vice-champion, Team 2007
Champion, Team 2008
Semi-finalist, Doubles 2008
Quarter-finalist, Singles 2008
Champion, 2009 Cameroon Invitational
Silver and Bronze medalist, African Championships 2010
Silver and Bronze medalist, African games 2011 Maputo
Bronze medalist, African Singles Cup 2012
Bronze medalist, African Singles Cup 2013
Gold medalist African Top 16 Cup 2014
Silver medalist, 2015 African Games
Gold medalist, African top 16 Cup 2016

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Quarter-finalist – 2014 Men’s World Cup (The Best By An African player)
Champion, Intercontinental Cup Dubai 2010
Quarter-finalist, 2010 World Team Cup Dubai 2010
Quarter-finalist (Division Two), World Championship Moscow 2010
Vice-champion, Intercontinental Cup 2009 (Men’s world Cup)

PRO TOURS
Men’s Doubles, Round-of-16 Kuwait Open 2010
Men’s Doubles, Round of 32 Qatar Open 2010
Men’s Group Singles, Kuwait Open 2010
Men’s Group Singles, Qatar Open 2010
Round-of-16, Spanish Open 2014
Semi-finalist, Nigeria Open 2014
Quarter-finalist, Czech Open 2014
Mediterranean Cup Champion 2014

COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Bronze Medalist, Team (Glasgow 2014)
Fourth Place, Team (India 2010)
Quarter-finalist, Doubles (India 2010)
Round-of-16, Mixed Doubles (India 2010)
Round-of-32, Singles (India 2010)

COMMONWEALTH CHAMPIONSHIPS
Vice-champion, Team India 2007

PORTUGUESE LEAGUE
Vice-champion, Portuguese League 2010/2011 season
Best Player in Portugal, November 2010 to December 2011
Unbeatable in 2011/2012 season
Portuguese Cup and League 2012/2013
Portuguese Super Cup 2012/2013
Portuguese Super Cup 2014
Best Player in Portugal 2014
Champion, Portuguese League 2015/2016 season

OLYMPIC GAMES
Second round , 2012 London Olympic Games
Quarter-finalist, 2016 Rio Olympic Games

AWARDS
2013 Ball Sports Personality of the Year, Nigerian Sports Award
2014 Ball Sports Personality of the Year, Nigerian Sports Award
2014 Athlete of the Year, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) Award
2014 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Player
2014 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Point
2015 Ball Sports Personality of the Year, Nigerian Sports Award