Quadri Aruna overtakes Egypt’s Omar Assar, now Africa’s highest-ranked global tennis player
In the rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday, Aruna now occupies the 18th position with 1290 points, moving up one place from the previous rankings.
The feat came despite Aruna finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, and his impressive performances at the World Table Tennis (WTT) tournaments this year.
Aruna is the only African male player to have reached the semifinals of the WTT Contender in Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year with another semi-final finish.
This achievement propelled him ahead of Assar, crowned champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Assar dropped from 17th to 19th with 1250.
In the women’s category, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the Week 12 ITTF rankings.
Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot.
Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
World
Chinese President Xi seeks global cooperation to build artificial intelligence governance system
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged nations to build a just and equitable global artificial intelligence governance system.
Anti-Corruption
TD Bank insiders facilitating money laundering, fraud jailed 70 months
During the money-laundering scheme, 1,680 official bank checks were processed at TD Bank, totalling more than $92 million.
States
Ogun, IFAD distribute agricultural inputs to 2,740 cassava farmers
The distribution was done under the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) programme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Africa
FG pushes free movement to boost trade in Africa
The minister said easier movement of people, goods and investments remained crucial to unlocking opportunities under the AfCFTA.
NationWide
FRSC inaugurates special enforcement to reduce crashes
The exercise, approved by the RS6 zonal command, will run from July 20 to July 22 in Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.
NationWide
NDLEA declares suspected drug kingpin, three accomplices wanted, freezes N9.8 billion
The suspects, Nnamuka Uchenna, Emmanuella Iroka, Nnamuka Ifeanyi and Ekechi Chijioke, are also wanted for alleged drug production and money laundering linked to the illicit operation.
