Aruna Quadri gets ITTF nod for 2018 World Cup

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has been given the nod to be part of the top 20-man contingent listed by the ITTF for the 2018 Men’s World Cup holding in Paris, France from October 19 to 21.

Quadri had missed out of the prestigious tournament following his 3-4 loss to Egypt’s Omar Assar at the 2018 Top 16 Africa Cup in Kenya earlier in the year, but the Nigerian had to rely on his world ranking to make the final list for the tournament.

The world table tennis ruling body confirmed the eventual qualification of the Nigerian alongside 19 others for the championship.

In an invitation signed by Zena Sim, Head of World Cup and ITTF Challenge, Quadri’s qualification was based on his July ITTF ranking.

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“On behalf of the ITTF, we would like to invite Quadri Aruna to participate in the Liebherr 2018 Men’s World Cup in Paris from 19-21 Oct. Quadri Aruna qualified based on his status as 2018 Africa Cup 2nd place (after taking the July World Ranking (WR) in consideration),” Sim said.

For Quadri, who is the men’s singles top seed at the forthcoming 2018 ITTF Challenge Nigeria Open, the World Cup nod is a reward for hard work.

“After losing the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Kenya, I have not been sleeping because I knew that it is still very possible to qualify through world ranking but I must work a lot for it.

“I can say that my qualification to the round of 32 in Qatar and Germany as well as some of my important victories in Sweden at the World Championship were enough to secure a place for me in France. I am very happy and excited that I finally made it and mission is accomplished. Also the good show I put up at the Hong Kong Open was enough as well,” Quadri said.

Also listed for the Men’s World Cup are Egypt’s Omar Assar as well as China’s duo of Ma Long and Fan Zhendong; Brazil’s Hugo Calderano and Gustavo Tsuboi; Germany’s Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov; South Korea’s LEE Sangsu and JEONG Sangeun; France’s Simon Gauzy and LEBESSON Emmanuel; Japan’s Niwa Koki and HARIMOTO Tomokazu; Sweden’s KARLSSON Mattias, Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov; Hong Kong’s WONG Chun Ting; Denmark’s Jonathan Groth; United States’ Khanak Jha and Australia’s HU Heming.

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