For winning the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, Lagos Open title at the weekend, Egypt’s Omar Assar occupies number 11 in the ITTF World Tour Men’s Standings released by the world table tennis ruling body.
The Egyptian who clinched his second title in Lagos has amassed 125 points from the two World Tours he has attended this year to top Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, who also made the list of top 20 players in the singles standings.
However, Quadri partnership with Kazeem Makanjuola made it to the top 10 of the men’s doubles in the standing following their triumph at the Lagos Open over the weekend.
In the list of eligible players for the end-of-the-year World Tour Finals, Egypt’s Assar is the highest listed African player in the standing. Assar places number 11, alongside Austria’s Robert Gardos with same points.
This year, Quadri has attended three World Tours, as he places 17 with 75 points in the singles, while the victory recorded in his partnership with Makanjuola in the men’s doubles place them in number nine globally.
To be listed among the elite names in the world, Assar has made two appearances, the one previous being in Kuwait when he was beaten in the first round by China’s Fan Zhendong.
Aruna is at no.17 with 75 points, being level with Korea’s Cho Eonrae, Jeong Samgeun and Kim Minseok, in addition to Poland’s Daniel Gorak and Hong Kong’s Tang Peng.
Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov continues to lead with 525 points and closely followed by China’s Ma Long, who has 500 points.
Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan is in third place with 300 points; a position he shares with Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and China’s Xu Xin.
Also, women’s singles champion at the Lagos Open, Portugal’s Shao Jieni establishes her name in the Women’s Singles Standings. She is at no.16 with 100 points); a position she shares with Korea’s Jeon Jihee, Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching, Japan’s Misako Wakamiya and Germany’s Wu Jiaduo in addition to the Chinese duo of Chen Meng and Wu Yang.
Lagos Open’s runner’s up, Egypt’s Dina Meshref is now at no.31 on the Standings (50 points), a position she shares with the Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Cheng I-Ching as well as with Turkey’s Hu Melek, Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin and Singapore’s Yu Mengyu.
However, on the Under 21 Women’s Singles Standings, Meshref is very much amongst the leading names, as she is with Jieni on the Women’s Doubles listings, the pair being crowned champions in Lagos.
On the Under 21 Women’s Singles Standings, Meshref is at no.7 (200 points); on the Women’s Doubles order of merit, with Jieni, she is at no.12 (100 points).
Meanwhile, Aruna and Makanjuola are now listed at no.9 on the Men’s Doubles Standings with 100 points, with the combination of Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Croatia’s Andrej Gacina (550 points) topping the standing.
A first appearance of the year for Quadri and Makunjuola, as a Men’s Doubles partnership; it was also the same scenario for Egypt’s Shady Magdy, the winner of the Under 21 Men’s Singles title in Lagos.