Africa’s number one Table Tennis star, Aruna Quadri reached the last 32 of the men’s singles at the 2019 ITTF World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and the feat has delighted the African Table Tennis Federation.
The continent governing body through its President, Khaled El-Salhy described the Nigerian as a good ambassador for always putting the continent on the world map with his scintillating performance.
El-Salhy, however, lauded Egypt’s Dina Meshref for her second feat in the women’s singles as well as her partnership with compatriot – Yousra Helmy for making it to the second round of the women’s doubles.
“Some African players did quite well especially Aruna Quadri (NGR) who was the last male player on track by reaching the round of 32, also Dina Meshref (EGY) who also made it to the round of 64 in singles while her doubles’ pairing with Yousra Helmy reached the last 32 of the event.
“I think they all tried their best and lost in some very tough matches,” the ATTF boss said.
For African players to excel at big stage, El-Salhy said: “Medal in this kind event is very difficult due to the big competition from China with five players as well as strong teams like Japan, Germany, Koreas, and others, but maybe they should look to medals in World Cup and World title events.
Players must also work hard to be able to advance in this kind of competition and this will surely help their World Ranking, and also for the national associations to prepare the players while Africa countries should also be looking forward in hosting similar WTTC in the near future.”
The ATTF boss commended the organizers of the competition, the Hungarian Table Tennis Association for putting up a good show.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
