African table tennis number one, Aruna Quadri has been invited for Liebherr 2020 ITTF Men´s World Cup alongside, Africa Cup winner, Ahmed Saleh to represent Nigeria at the International scene.
The International table tennis events will resume after several months of suspended activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic with two World Cup events will be held in China on the following dates, Liebherr 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup slated for 13th to 15th November and Uncle Pop 2020 ITTF Women’s World Cup scheduled for 8th to 10th November.
Ahmed Saleh was called up after winning the continent championship earlier in February in Tunisia while Quadri was called up due to his current world ranking.
Quadri made his debut for his new club in Germany TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell away to TSV Bad Königshofen on Sunday after spending 10 years in Portugal.
The World Cups will feature 20 female and 20 male athletes, including the World Champion, qualified players from all completed continental events (Africa, Europe, and Pan America), and players selected by world ranking from the other continents (Asia and Oceania) as well as the whole world according to the provisional World Cup playing system.
The top 16 world-ranked male and top 16 world-ranked female players will lock horns in men’s singles and women’s singles competition at the ITTF Finals, where a cap of four players per national association will ensure an exciting spread of star talent from across the globe.
In the women’s category, a record of eight-time African champions Dina Meshref will represent Africa.
The president of the International table tennis federation, Thomas Weikert has revealed that Ever since the pandemic struck, the ITTF has been working tirelessly to bring table tennis back to the global community in a safe and secure manner. While it has not been an easy journey, the ITTF would like to express its heartfelt gratitude towards all the stakeholders for their support in these challenging times.
“Ensuring a safe return to international table tennis has been our utmost priority ever since the pandemic broke out and so I am delighted that, with the fantastic support and hard work carried out by everyone at the ITTF over several months, we have managed to get events back up and running before the end of 2020,” he said
The ITTF has issued a set of guidelines with mandatory requirements and recommendations to allow athletes and fans to continue to enjoy and participate in our sport during the pandemic
