The global ranking of Nigerian table tennis ace Aruna Quadri has fetched him a place in the top 64 players across the world, listed in the seeding for the 2017 ITTF World Championship holding in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Quadri who is now ranked 37th in the latest ITTF ranking released on Monday, is seeded 31 and this means the 2014 ITTF Star Player will start his campaign from the main draw of the men’s singles event.
With the first round exit at the 2015 edition still fresh in the memory of Quadri, all eyes will be on the Nigerian who has become one of the most celebrated table tennis stars in the world following his exploits at Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Besides, Quadri’s continental rival, Egypt’s Omar Assar made the list as the Egyptian is seeded 50 in the 64-man seeding list. Like Quadri, Assar will start his campaign from the main draw.
Meanwhile, China’s quartet of Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Zhang Jike, completes the top four names with Xu Xin arguably being the member of the illustrious Chinese quartet with a point to prove; in Suzhou, he was beaten in the fourth round by Fang Bo who duly advanced to the final, losing to Ma Long. Notably, in 2017, Fang Bo has not secured his place in the Chinese selection for the Men’s Singles event in Düsseldorf.
Undoubtedly on home soil, attention will focus on Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll; Dimitrij Ovtcharov is the no.5 seed, Timo Boll, the no.8 seed. Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting being the players sandwiched in between.
Runner-up in Paris and Suzhou, Liu Shiwen, as she was on both those occasions, is once again the no.2 seed; Chinese national team colleague Zhu Yuling and Singapore’s Feng Tianwei complete the top four names.
A total of 64 players are named in each of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles seeding lists; all other players must qualify for a place in the main event; the first round in each event being a draw of 128 players.