From being ranked 257 in February this year, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri became the biggest mover in the September International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking as the African champion is now rated 73 in the world.
Aruna Quadri
In August, Quadri was listed as one of the active player by ITTF and as if that was not enough the Oyo State-born player ranked 111 caused two major upsets at the last Czech Open when he defeated world’s number 24 and 38 to make it to the last eight of the championship.
As the first Nigerian to achieve such feat in an ITTF Pro Tour moved from 111 to be rated 73 in the world following the release of the September ranking by the world table tennis ruling body.
For this feat, Quadri is now the second highly rated African player in the world behind Egypt’s Omar Assar, who is in top 70. At the Czech Open, Assar failed to make it beyond the second round (round of 32) while Quadri make it to the quarterfinal of the competition where he was edged out by eventual runner’s up of the tournament, Germany’s Patrick Baum.
According to ITTF Publication Director, Ian Marshall, Frenchman Simon Gauzy, Spain’s He Zhiwen, Russia’s Kirill Skachkov and the Slovak Republic’s Wang Yang make progress in the September ranking following their Czech Republic excursion but none can match Nigeria’s Quadri.
“Kirill Skachkov moves from no.73 to no.63 and Simon Gauzy from No.88 to no.65; whilst He Zhiwen advances from no.92 to no.79 and Wang Yang from no.108 to no.93. However, compared with Quadri they are minor moves; the 26 year-old Nigerian advances from a previous best of number 111 to 73, following his Men’s Singles quarter-final appearance,” Marshall said.