Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been lined up among the world superstars that will compete at the inaugural World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash.
To be held between March 7 and 20, Aruna and other world’s best players are set for the inaugural men’s and women’s singles $2m prize money Singapore Smash
WTT Grand Smashes form the four pillars of the new WTT Series and the first-ever Singapore Smash will see top players compete for a share of $2m prize money at Singapore Sports Hub.
The men’s and women’s singles’ main draw will feature 64 players each, with the first 50 players automatically entered based on the latest ITTF Table Tennis World Rankings. The remaining positions will be filled by four host wild cards, two WTT nominations and eight qualifiers.
Apart from Aruna, world’s number one, Fan Zhendong returns to the familiar winning ground three months after he outplayed Tomokazu Harimoto at WTT Cup Finals Singapore to secure the year-end title.
Fan will be joined by Chinese legend Ma Long in the Lion City, his first international appearance since Tokyo 2020.
Regarded as the greatest of all time (GOAT), the two-time Olympic Men’s Singles gold medallist is a crowd favourite, adding star power to the already elite field of world-class talent.
According to the organisers, heavyweights such as Hugo Calderano, Tomokazu Harimoto, Timo Boll and more are ready to make a smash in Singapore.
Featured amongst the list of top 50 players, including Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, Germany’s Petrissa Solja, and Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi, as well as African Champion Mariam Elhodaby of Egypt. Following her surprise victory in Cameroon last year, the 21-year-old enters the event as a continental winner, joining fellow Egyptian Dina Meshref in securing an automatic entry into the main draw.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
