The Executive Council of the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) has hailed the Quadri Aruna for his quarter final finish at the just concluded WTT Singapore Smash.
For making it to the last eight of the WTT Grand Smash series in Singapore, the Nigerian became the first African to reach the quarterfinal round of the WTT Singapore Smash after edging out some of the finest players in the world on his way to the quarterfinal.
The icing on the cake for Aruna was the emphatic defeat over domineering Japanese star Tomokazu Harimoto who has previously beaten the Nigerian thrice. But in Singapore, Aruna prepared well for his Asian counterpart with a dominance performance to silence Harimoto and set up a quarterfinal tie against Brazil’s Hugo Calderano.
Unfortunately, Aruna fell 4-0 to the Brazilian rated number four in the world to exit the tournament.
However, for the performance in Singapore, Aruna will earn 350 ranking points accruing to quarterfinalist while this would rub off on his world rating when the new ranking is released next week by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
According to the President of ATTF, Khaled El-Salhy, the Nigerian has continued to set the pace for the sport in Africa with his record feat at the Olympic Games, World Championships and WTT Cup Finals in Renee times.
“Congratulations for your fantastic show-up in Singapore especially for the great win in the round of 16 against Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto to qualify for the quarter final. I would like just to pass to you my full appreciation on behalf of the ATTF Executive Council (EC) as the main ambassador of African table tennis in ITTF super events. We wish you to continue to make the continent proud and a great ambassador of your country and Africa,” he said.
Meanwhile, Aruna has been listed among the world elite table tennis stars that will compete at the $800,000 prize money WTT Champions Xinxiang in China next month.
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