Hassan Abdulsalam
Seven Time Olympian and Africa table tennis Legends, Segun Toriola and Funke Oshonaike have tipped Aruna Quadri to conquer the world when International table tennis Returns on Sunday, Nairasports.com.ng
The International Table Tennis will return with Uncle Pop 2020 ITTF Women’s World Cup scheduled for 8th to 10th November followed by Liebherr 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup slated for 13th to 15th November.
Africa will be represented by Aruna Quadri and Ahmed Saleh of Egypt while in the women’s Category, Dina Meshref will represent Africa.
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.
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.
Quadri who currently play in Germany with his new club TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell away to TSV Bad Königshofen after spending 10 years in Portugal.
African Number one player made his world cup in 2014 where he makes the top ranked players breadth hard for their runs.
Tipping Quadri to shock the world, Seven Time olympian, Segun Toriola and Funke Oshonaike disclosed that he will go far and surprise the world.
For Toriola, “It is going to be difficult for Africans at the World Cups. It’s a big challenge for Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh, particularly with the pace of the present players. Also considering his style of play, he is an experienced athlete who defends a lot, but I think that Quadri Aruna can go far in the competition. On his day, he has the quality to match anyone in the world.”
Oshonaike added, “In the men’s event, nothing is impossible. (Quadri) Aruna has been in the quarter-finals before in 2014, but that was a very different time. Now the players are just returning to action again. Meanwhile, the Chinese have been training hard so they have better chances. I just hope that Aruna goes out there to try his best by just being relaxed because if you are more relaxed in table tennis there can be a lot of surprises!” Oshonaike
