Nigeria’s
Aruna Quadri has become the first African table tennis player to top the
ranking of players in the Commonwealth.
The
28-year-old, who is currently ranked first in Africa by the International Table
Tennis Federation, on Wednesday set the record after the Technical Committee of
the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation, released their ranking for the month
of May.
Quadri,
who has been playing second fiddle to players from Singapore, became the
highest rated player among players from the Commonwealth nations. Among the 277
players listed in the ranking, Quadri garnered 2385 points to beat Singapore’s
Gao Ning, who has 2384 to second place. England’s Pitchford Liam has 2277
points to occupy third spot on the ranking list.
Africa’s
most decorated star, Segun Toriola is rated 12th with 2014 points behind
players from India, Canada and England. Also, Bode Abiodun is ranked 22nd with
1822 points.
Prior to
the May ranking, Quadri had been playing second fiddle to Gao Ning and as it
is, Quadri remains the best player among the players from the Commonwealth
nations.
In the
women ranking, no Nigerian made the top 20 list as Edem Offiong and Olufunke
Oshonaike were ranked 23 and 26 respectively.
Meanwhile,
Quadri aided his French team, Jura Morez, to remain in the elite division of
the prestigious French Table Tennis League. But it was not same story for
Egypt’s Omar Assar as his club, Istres were relegated.
With
this development, Assar will be campaigning in the lower division of the league
next season.
Labels: Aruna Quadri, Aruna Quadri tops common wealth list of Table Tennis players, makes history, Nigerian Table Tennis Player Aruna Quadri, tops Commonwealth ranking
