Nigerian table tennis star, Quadri Aruna, has become the first African, Nigerian and black player to be ranked in the top 10 in world table tennis ranking.
This was released on International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) website on Tuesday.
READ ALSO: Quadri begins CBN senior Tennis open championship title defence
Egypt’s Omar Assar returned to 19th in the world ranking after the African champion gained eight steps up in the latest Men’s singles ranking.
Also, Bode Abiodun surprisingly moved 34 steps up to be rated 97th in the world.
Snapshot of Quadri Aruna
Born 9 August 1988, in Oyo State, Quadri competed for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals in the latter competition.
At the World Cup 2014, he reached the quarter finals in the Men’s Singles competition.
In the 2017 ITTF World Challenge Bulgaria Open he advanced to the semi-finals where he was defeated in a tight match by eventual winner Dimitrij Ovtcharov. Aruna is known for his forehand-oriented playing style, which gets him many winners. He is a Joola-sponsored player.
In 2014, he was ranked number 30 in world table tennis, and the International Table Tennis Federation named him the Star Player of the year. His peak world ranking was 25, which he held from September 2016- January 2017. He was also part of the Nigerian team that won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Aruna is a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). He is married to another table tennis player, Ganiyat.
Quadri attended Oba Adeyemi High School, Oyo State, Nigeria, where he represented the school, Oyo East Local Government Area (LGA) and Oyo State at various table tennis competitions.
At club level, Aruna Quadri recently teamed up with TTC RhönSprudel Maberzell Fulda, a top club in the German Bundesliga Table Tennis
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