Nigeria’s veteran table tennis player, Quadri Aruna, made a quick return to the top 20 in a new ranking released on Tuesday by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

The rating list, made public by the world’s table tennis ruling body, shows the Nigerian climbing three spots to the 19th spot.

In the last two rankings, Aruna, who slid to 22 after missing the World Team Championships in Korea and the WTT Champions in Incheon, fought his way back to the elite rank in the sport.

African Games champion Omar Assar of Egypt also gained one step up the rating to be ranked 16th in the world.

Also, Aruna started his campaign at the ITTF World Cups Macao 2024 on a good note.

He won 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6) over Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez to set the final group 15 tie against Portugal’s Marcos Freitas on April 17 at the Galaxy Arena.

Aruna occupied the top spot in the group as Freitas had earlier beaten Gonzalez 4-0 (17-15, 11-7, 11-7, 11-1).

However, the Nigerian had more points than the Portuguese to be rated number one in the group.

The tie between Aruna and Freitas will decide the group winner, who will then advance to the second stage (knockout) of the competition.

Aruna said after winning his first match, ”I’m very happy. It’s my third time here in Macao and my first time winning a match here in Macao, so I feel very happy and excited.”

Aruna and Assar started well in their group with an overwhelming 4-0 win over Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan to set up a deciding group tie against Sweden’s Truls Moregard on April 17.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Mohamed El-Beiali and Yousra Helmy have exited the World Cups after losing their second group match. 

(NAN)