Table tennis federation confirms Aruna’s qualification for Tokyo Olympics

Aruna Quadri will be participating at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) confirmed his qualification on Tuesday.

This was confirmed in a letter addressed to the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) and singed by ITTF Competition Director Gabor Felegyi.

Aruna, who is the first African in the history of the Olympic Games to make it to the quarter-final stage of the singles event, is expected to join 85 others across the globe to compete in the men’s singles at Tokyo Olympic Games next month.

Aruna qualified on the basis of World Ranking allocation according to the June 2021 ITTF Olympic Qualification ranking.

Read Also: Aruna awaits world ranking for Olympics ticket after losing out at WSQT

Felegyi in the letter stated that the NOC is expected to confirm Aruna’s participation on or before June 16.

With this development, Aruna will be making his third appearance at the Olympic Games, having featured in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

He will be joining his compatriots – Olajide Omotayo, Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong who already secured their spots.

It was at Rio 2016 in Brazil that Aruna stunned the world with his performance as the first African to reach the quarterfinals after edging out some of the best players in the world including former world number one, Timo Boll of Germany before losing to the eventual winner, Ma Long of China in the quarterfinal.

Meanwhile, 64 players have so far been confirmed for the men’s singles event at the Olympics while the remaining six slots are expected to be allocated as wildcards.

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