Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri will today, know whether he his name will be etched in the annals of history as the first player to win the annual ITTF Star Award twice as the winner for this year’s edition will be announced at Sheraton Hotel in Doha late tonight.
Quadri, the 2014 winner of the award is competing for the coveted gong against World and Olympic Champion, China’s Ma Long and his compatriot – Fan Zhendong as well as Japan’s Jun Mizutani, in the male Player of the Year category.
For the female Player of the Year, the battle for the gong will be among China’s Ding Ning and DPR Korea’s Kim Song I, in addition to the Japanese duo of Miu Hirano and Mima Ito.
The results of the fans’ voting which closed on November 13 will be will be combined with the judging outcome by an expert panel which will include their peers and the media to determine the Table Tennis Stars of 2016.
The colourful event will herald the commencement of the ITTF World Tour Finals which has the best 16 ranked players in the world compete against one another for the mouth-watering prize money at stake.