Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has again been handed a tough task in the first round of this year’s WTT Cup Finals taking place in Xinxiang, China Just like it happened in Singapore in 2021,
Then Aruna’s 3-1 (7-11, 11-1, 14-12, 11-5) win over world No. 8 Liang Jingkun of China earned him a quarterfinal berth at the maiden edition of the lucrative $1m prize money championships.
But after the draw for this year’s edition, Aruna has been pitched against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju known as the ‘silent assassin’ and will be his biggest task in the competition.
Youn-Ju has spent three straight years in the Top 10 players in the world, at 21 and he hopes to bolster his ranking this season by winning WTT Contender Zagreb as well as multiple deep runs on the biggest stages.
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Aruna and Yun-Ju have met once on the big stage with the Asian claiming a comprehensive victory .
In the Men’s Singles, World No.1 Fan Zhendong appeared at the top of the draw and will be out to defend his title having emerged triumphant at WTT Cup Finals Singapore 2021.
Fan’s been in exceptional form this season taking down Singapore Smash as well as spending the entirety of the year as the world’s top player on the ITTF Table Tennis Rankings list.
WTT Cup Finals is to be staged from October 27 to 30 and the marquee event of the WTT Series will provide the stage for the best of the best to battle it out to be crowned champions and for a share of the prize money.
Qualification for the event had been fierce with players pushing their case for a spot at the highlight event of the WTT Series. The final lineup was determined only last week, and now the draw is here!