After successfully defending his Men’s singles title at the 2023 ITTF African Championships, Quadri Aruna has returned to 16th in the Week 38 of the ITTF World Ranking.
Aruna, who dropped to 18 in the last two weeks retained his title at the weekend produced a near-perfect display in Tunis, dropping just one game on his way to victory in the quarterfinals as Egypt’s Youssef Abdel-Aziz managed to grab a consolation game in a 4-1 outcome.
Brushing aside compatriot, Olajide Omotayo in semi-final and Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh in final in straight games, Aruna doesn’t just bag himself another continental trophy for his collection, but also receives a healthy 500-point boost to his ranking points.
Apart from gaining world rating, Aruna boosts his chance of being listed for the mouth-watering prize money end-of-year tournament in Germany next month as the top 16 players in the world get automatic qualifications in the Frankfurt elite tournament.
Meanwhile, Omotayo also moves 264 up the ranking to occupy 104th place in the world rating for making it to the semi-final at the ITTF African Championships.
The 2019 Africa Games champion edged out one of the tournament favourites Ibrahima Diaw of Senegal in the round of 16 to amass 175points to shore up his world ranking.
Despite losing to Aruna in the final, Egyptian veteran Saleh celebrated a fantastic week in Tunis by rolling back the years.
The former African champion outclassed rising Algerian star Mehdi Bouloussa before going on to best Bode Abiodun of Nigeria and surprise semi-finalist Saheed Idowu of Congo Brazzaville.
Ranked at No.270 just a week ago, Saleh’s impressive week landed him 350 ranking points, enough to climb a whopping 218 positions to World No.52, his highest ranking since April 2022.
Also, Nigeria-born Congolese Idowu benefited from his semi-final finish to gain 61 steps up to occupy 109th place in the ranking.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
