Tag: Aruna

After the disappointing outing at the WTT Contender in Turkey, Quadri Aruna has been drawn against Danish star Jonathan Groth in the first round of men’s singles at the WTT Champions Frankfurt in Germany.

WTT Champions Frankfurt which began yesterday will feature a field of 32 in both the Men’s and Women’s Singles draws, competing for 1000 ITTF World Ranking points and a slice of the $500,000 prize pool.

Aruna who is aiming to make the cut for the end-of-the-year WTT Finals involving the top 16 players in the world in men’s and women’s singles, will be aiming to halt the dominance of the Danish who has had an edge over him in all their meetings.

The 2023 African champion who moved up to 15th place in last week’s world ranking is hoping to shore up will have his hands full against the European southpaw who recently won a WTT Feeder title.

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 “It is a 50-50 match against Groth because he is a great player, I respect him but I will surely give my best and hope that my best will see me through in the match,” Aruna told NationSport.“ It is the dream of every player to feature at the WTT Finals to improve ranking ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.”

Apart from Aruna, Egypt’s trio of Omar Assar, Dina Meshref and Hana Goda are also competing in Frankfurt.

Assar will face Sweden’s Anton Kallberg in the men’s singles while Meshref will square up against Japan’s Mima Ito while Goda will face home-girl Nina Mittelham in the women’s singles.

Sitting on top of the Men’s Singles draw is World No.1 Fan Zhendong who picked his first WTT Champions title earlier this year in Xinxiang.

As he looks to get his campaign for a second trophy underway, he will face Swedish sensation Truls Moregard. So far this year Moregard is yet to better his WTT Champions Macao 2022 semi-final appearance in the Champions tier, and will be up against the best of it in Frankfurt from the first point.

Quadri Aruna has withdrawn from the WTT Contender Antalya which served off yesterday at the Gloria Sports Arena in Turkey.

The Nigerian who had an early exit at last week’s WTT Contender Muscat after a close contest against a Japanese teenager has been listed among the top seeds at the WTT Contender Antalya withdrew following advice from his doctor in Portugal.

He is billed to start his campaign from the main draw of the men’s singles on Thursday October 19, but following the neck injury he suffered, the Nigerian had to withdraw his participation.

Aruna is aiming to shore up his ranking to make the trip to the end-of-the-year mouth-watering WTT Finals tournament but with his withdrawal, Aruna’s dream may have suffered a setback.

Based on his physiotherapist recommendation, Aruna was asked to rest for five days to reduce the neck pain and recover on time for subsequent competitions.

Meanwhile, it’s pure class from the top seeds headed to Antalya and on the Men’s Singles side is hero of WTT Series 2023 Hugo Calderano. After he took down the title in Muscat at the weekend, Calderano now has three WTT Contender trophies to his name this year. Throw in a Star Contender semifinal and a quarterfinal finish at WTT Champions Macao, and he has become table tennis danger personified.

Read Also: WTT Contender Muscat: Aruna draws Japanese teenager in first round

The Brazilian currently sits at No.5 in the Race to WTT Finals, showing just how much he has dominated the international scene this year.

A berth in the end of year finale event looks a certainty. Next stop could be pushing to improve on his career high world ranking of No.3. Calderano’s best bet on this is locking in yet another podium finish.

On the Men’s Singles side Marcos Freitas of Portugal heads to Gloria Sports Arena with a wildcard in hand. Having a resurgence of late on the international scene, In pursuit of a place at WTT Finals 2023, Freitas is placed right at the cut-off, currently coming in at No.16. With events remaining on the WTT Series calendar dwindling, Antalya will be vital in determining if we see Freitas take a ticket.

Quadri Aruna’s quest for his first WTT title will face a Herculean task as the Nigerian has been pitched against Japanese teenager sensation Sora Matsushima in the first round of the men’s singles at the WTT Contender Muscat in Oman.

Aruna, who made it to the semifinal of the 2022 WTT Star Contender in Doha is one of the top stars listed for the Oman battle that are yet to cuddle the WTT trophy since its inception in 2020.

The Nigerian, listed as sixth seed in the men’s singles, will face the 16-year-old Japanese who has been in fine form lately after beating some top players in recent WTT tournaments.

The 2023 African champion will have to be at his best just like he did in Tunis recently at the African Championships if he hopes to edge out the Japanese southpaw when both players clash on table one today

As the only African male player on duty in Oman, Aruna will be hoping to end his title drought at global level but he must start well against the Japanese.

Read Also: Aruna seeks first WTT title in Oman

Also in Muscat is six-time African champion Dina Meshref of Egypt who has been pitched against South Korea’s Lee Zion in the first round of the women’s singles.

So it has been three days of intense qualifying action contested at Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex as the main draw begins with Italy’s Giorgia Piccolin and Germany’s Cedric Meissner among the players successfully making their way to the elite division in Muscat.

World No.123 Piccolin entered as the No.11-ranked entry involved in Women’s Singles qualifying, and knew she had to bring her ‘A’ game in pursuit of a main draw ticket, with only eight rounds of 32 places up for grabs.

The big story in Men’s Singles qualifying was centred on Meissner, who outshone the competition with his surprise run over the course of qualifying.

Elsewhere, Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia narrowly squeezed through his section of the draw, fighting back from two games down to see off Frenchman Lilian Bardet’s brave challenge at the final qualifying hurdle (6-11, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6).

African champion Quadri Aruna will be searching for his first WTT title as the Nigerian has been listed among the contenders at the WTT Contender Muscat in Oman.

The world number 16 will also be aiming to shore up his world ranking for a place in the end-of-year WTT Finals.

Aruna who recently teamed up with Khaleej Club in the lucrative Saudi Arabia league was given a wildcard to compete in Muscat and he is expected to take his form at the African Championships in Tunis to the event with the hope of clinching his first WTT title.

Expected to start his campaign from the main draw, Aruna will contend with top seeds like Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, Germany’s duo of Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Dang Qiu who are title contenders in Oman.

Each of the top five seeds has at least one WTT Series title to their name, with 10 split among them. Calderano leads the pack with four wins to his name. Meanwhile Harimoto comes into Muscat as the top seed but so far in 2023 is yet to win a WTT Series event.

After staging two blockbuster events in 2022, the WTT Contender event is making its return to Oman’s capital for a third round.

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For Aruna and other players, Muscat makes for a mesmerising setting as the Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex is set to be electrified as the main draw serves off tomorrow to October 14.

With 400 ITTF World Ranking Points on offer for the victors, alongside a $75,000 prize pool, the competition is bound to be fierce.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the WTT Champions Frankfurt have confirmed Aruna among top 30 stars heading to the German city of Frankfurt for the $500,000 prize money tournament.

This year’s third WTT Champions showing is bringing out the stars, with Fan world number one Zhendong and Sun Yingsha of China headlining the action.

WTT Champions Frankfurt is shaping up to be an event not to be missed. The action in Infinity Arena will see athletes battle in a knockout format, with each win inching them closer to the 1000 ITTF World Ranking points waiting for the champion. With the best in the business clashing from day one, fans are promised a buffet of high-octane matches.

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.

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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.

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna last night retained his men’s singles title at the 26th  ITTF African Championships after beating Ahmed Saleh of Egypt 4-0 in the final.

Just as Egyptian teenage sensation Hana Goda added the ITTF African Championships to her laurels after beating compatriot Dina Meshref  4-1 in the final of the 26th ITTF African Championships in Tunis.

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Aruna was unbeaten in the singles event taking most his opponents to overrun Saleh 4-0 in the final of the championship after winning the 2022 edition in Algeria.

Goda, a two-time Africa Cup champion was at her best against defending champion and she dictated the pace of the encounter from the first game to the end to become the women’s singles champion.

An excited Goda described the victory as special. “This is special especially with the support from the Tunisian fans and I will cherish this for a long time to come.”

It is going to be a repeat of the final of Rabat 2019 African Games as Nigeria’s duo of Quadri Aruna and Olajide Omotayo clash in the semi-final of the men’s singles at the 26th ITTF African Championships taking place in Tunis.

To qualify to the last four, Aruna defeated Egypt’s Youssef Abdel-Aziz 4-1 while Omotayo edged out Madagascar sensation Fabio Rakotoarimanana 4-3.

The battle for the women’s singles will be an Egyptian affair as four of them will be aiming to outwit one another in an attempt to wrestle the title from the defending champion Dina Meshref.

Meshref will take on Yousra Helmy in the final women’s singles semi-final which is a repeat of the 2022 final in Algiers, while the second semi-final has teenage sensation Hana Goda going up against 2021 champion Mariam Alhodaby.

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Meanwhile, Egypt has beaten Nigeria to the mixed doubles title at the 26th ITTF African Championships to secure the continental sole slot to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.

Nigeria was beaten to the ticket in the team event as the Egyptians are heading to Paris to represent Africa in the men’s and women’s events in France.

To pick the ticket in the mixed doubles, the pair of Omar Assar and Dina Meshref defeated Nigeria’s duo of Olajide Omotayo and Olufunke Oshonaike 3-1 (11-8, 6-11, 11-1, 12-10).

With this development, Egypt has secured all the Paris 2024 Olympic Games tickets at stake at the 26th ITTF African Championships in Tunis.

This however, denied Nigeria’s Oshonaike the chance to set a new record as the first Nigerian, African and table tennis player to feature in eight Olympic Games.