Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri is now the highest ranked African Table Tennis player after moving a step up to the 29th position in the world with 2,393 points in the April edition of the International Table Tennis Federation ranking.
He was on the 30th position in the March ranking.
Quadri is followed by Egypt’s Omar Assar who is occupying the 37th position with 2, 338 points.
The third ranked African is Nigeria’s Segun Toriola on 109th position with 2,022 points which is a tie with India’s Harmeet Desai.
Quadri, reacting to the feat, told NAN that this was one of the upward movements in line with his aim of making the top 20 in the monthly ranking.
He said that it was essential for him to attend more tournaments for his ranking to constantly improve.
“Well, it is from tournaments we garner points that are used to rank us. I need to engage in them but I need to be careful in selecting the competitions that I take part in.
“I need to attend competitions that have the best 50 players globally participating. It does not do me any good taking part in competitions that have lower-ranked players than me.
“It is better when I lose points against the top-ranked players than lower-ranked players. I must be extra careful in featuring at tournaments.
“The super series and major tournaments are competitions that I should ensure that I don’t miss,” he said.
The 2014 ITTF star player said that he was planning to take part in some opens, to build up his preparations for the Rio Olympic Games.
“Croatia Open, Slovenia Open, Korea and Japan Open are my targets for now. I want to use them to warm-up for the Olympics likewise garner more points,” he said.
Anderson Bankole, the Technical Director, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, commended Quadri for his strive in getting better.
Bankole, who is also a Deputy Commissioner of Police, said that the federation was proud of Quadri’s remarkable feat.
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