Nigeria’s table tennis star, Aruna Quadri, has ended 2015 as the number 50 table tennis player in the world in the latest ranking by the International Table Tennis Federation.
Quadri’s arch-rival, Omar Assar of Egypt, who started the year as number 43, finished as Africa’s best rated player in the world by occupying number 31 in the latest ITTF ranking.
Quadri, started the year, 2015 among the top 30 players in the world.
In 2015, Quadri featured in more than five ITTF World Circuits, with his best being the Lagos Open where he played in the final against Assar.
In Europe, he took part in the German, Spanish, Polish, Croatia and Swedish Opens, while he was also in Kuwait and Qatar Opens where he managed to make it to the last 32 in some of this tournament.
His best outing in Europe was at the Croatia Open where he made it to the last 16.
In Africa, twice he played second fiddle to Egypt’s Assar at the African Senior Cup in Cameroun and African Games in Congo Brazzaville.
Despite these, Quadri, whose performance at the 2014 World Cup in Germany earned him the 2014 ITTF Star Player award, attracted a lot of European teams from Germany and France but the Oyo State athlete decided to pitch his tent with Jura Morez in the French elite league, while he also featured for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
Former national coach, Babatunde Obisanya, believes Quadri has not utilised his potential considering the rare skills possessed by the player.
Obisanya said “I think Quadri has not really lived up to expectations considering the kind of potential he has.
“For a player to make it to the top 30, it is no child’s play and for him to have ended the year at 50 shows that he needs to work harder in 2016.
“I believe he can remain among the top 20 but he just needs to get the cooperation of those that matters in the sport and he also needs full support as well.
“I believe he can make it up there in 2016 if he continues to work hard.”
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