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Tag: Omar Assar

  • Aruna Quadri maintains status as Africa’s best

    Despite dropping points coupled with his preliminary exit at the Japan Open, 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri remains the highest rated African in the July ranking by the world table tennis ruling body – ITTF.

    For failing to make it to the Nigeria Open, Quadri lose some points in his ranking while his early exit from the 2016 Japan Open may have contributed to his drop in the latest world ranking.

    However, with 2337 points  Aruna Quadri beat Egypt’s Omar Assar to second place in the continent while the Oyo State star dropped from 37 to 38 in the rating.

    Quadri whose scintillating performance in his first season in the prestigious French Premier League aided his club, Jura Morez to avoid relegation is also rated 27 in the July men’s singles ranking for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    Despite not been active in June, Egypt’a Omar Assar dropped two steps to 41 in the world and the Egyptian also failed to safe his team, Istres from dropping into relegation in the French Premier League.

    Veteran Segun Toriola also remained the third best player in Africa, despite dropping to 122 from 110 in the latest rating.

    For dropping from 91 to 98 in the world, Egypt’s Dina Meshref tops African ranking in the women.

    Meanwhile, China held on to the top of the ranking as the world best as Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Zhang Jike are the world top four players in the ranking.

      Also Chinese trio of Liu Shiwen, Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling are the top three female players in the world according to the July ITTF ranking.

  • ITTF Africa Olympics: Toriola begins chase for seventh appearance

    ITTF Africa Olympics: Toriola begins chase for seventh appearance

    To set a new Nigeria and Africa records, 42 year-old Nigeria’s Segun Toriola will today in Khartoum at the ITTF Africa Olympics Qualification Tournament begins chase for his seventh appearance at the multi-sports championship holding in Brazil.

    Toriola, who is at present the most successful table tennis player in the continent have won more than 20 individual gold medals at the African Games while still remains the most successful player at the Olympics after making it to the fourth round in the men’s singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China has featured in all Olympics since making his debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in Spain.

    Apart from being winning more medals at the African Games, Toriola, who is also the most decorated player in all continental competition will be battling for the two slots in the men’s event alongside another ageing star, Nigeria-born Congo Brazzaville’s warlord, Saka Suraju who is also his targeting his third appearance at the Olympics.

    Toriola who narrowly missed out from qualifying at the 2015 African Games is aiming for the slot and he told NationSport recently that he would love to fulfil his dream of returning to the Olympics.

    At the last African Games in Congo Brazzaville, Toriola single-handedly aided Nigeria’s dominance against Egypt in the men’s team event after beating the best player in the continent, Egypt’s Omar Assar to pave way for Nigeria to claim gold in the event at the expense of the North Africans.

    Also, Nigeria’s Edem Offiong will be hoping to the Olympics as she will also be competing in the women event for one of the two slots at stake in their category. Offiong, who recently returned to Portugal after the African Games has vowed to work her way to Brazil in Sudan. “I will love to go to the Olympics after attending Athens 2004 and London 2012. This is the biggest stage in sports and for me, I think I am capable of achieving my dream in Sudan having trained well in my club in Portugal,” she boasted.

    Already, Aruna Quadri and Olufunke Oshonaike has secured their places in Brazil while the jostle for continental slots in the men and women team event will hold at the World Team Championship in Malaysia this month.

    28 athletes from Algeria, Ghana, Sudan, Libya, Madagascar, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo DRC, Burundi, Morocco, Tunisia and Kenya will compete for the two slots remaining for men in Africa while 16 will slug it out for the two slots in the women.

  • ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Quadri, Toriola move to second round

    ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Quadri, Toriola move to second round

    Nigeria’s duo of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola had easy passage to the second round of the ongoing ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup after winning their group matches in Khartoum, Sudan over the weekend.
    The tournament which serves as qualifiers to determine the players (men and women) that will represent Africa at the 2016 ITTF World Cups has 32 players competing in the men and women events.
    QUADRI maintained 100 per cent with victories over Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo, Algeria’s Aissa Belkaddi and Sudan’s Mohamed Nadir to top the group and advanced to the knockout stage.
    Also, Toriola was in fine form with wins over Congo Brazzaville’s Saheed Idowu, Algeria’s Soudes Alassani and Ghana’s Derek Abrefa to Berth in the knockout stage.
    Egypt’s duo of Omar Assar and El-Sayed Lashin also maintained their status with 100 per cent wins.
    In the women’s event, the likes of Nigeria’s Edem Offiong, Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing and Egypt’s pair of Dina Meshref recorded outright victories in their matches to progress to the knockout stage.
    Meanwhile, the tournament number one seed, Egypt’s Omar Assar told NationSport that he is not under any pressure to win the tournament ahead of others.
    “I feel no pressure at all because I am one of the youngest players at the tournament and I am looking forward to show a good performance.”
    “I am very excited for Sudan as first Continental tournament in 2016 and it will be my first visit to Sudan as well. 2015 was full of African Events and all went well for me and were very successful as I wish Sudan will follow the same way and even better performance,” he said.
    With his performance at the 2015 ITTF World Cup in Sweden, Omar Assar is eager to return to the big stage this year. “Sure the World Cup is a great tournament to play and I would love to repeat my experience once more after playing well in Halmstad, Sweden in 2015.”
    Apart from aiming for the title in Sudan, Omar Assar believes the tournament can help him to assess his preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympics. “Sudan is a big part of my way to Rio 2016 Olympics. So it is important to measure my practice and preparation in the last few months.”
    He however, enunciated his target for 2016. “My target in 2016 is to reach even higher in my table tennis level and to play each match and competition with high focus and good performance,” he revealed.

  • ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Aruna Quadri hopes for glorious start in Sudan

    ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Aruna Quadri hopes for glorious start in Sudan

    As long as Aruna Quadri wants to remember 2015 as a year he was named the ITTF Star Player, he will also want to forget it in a hurry as Egypt’s Omar Assar claimed three titles at his expense. From the ITTF World Tour in Lagos to African Senior Cup and African Games, Aruna Quadri played second fiddle to Omar Assar.

    But few days to the commencement of the 2016 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan, Aruna Quadri believes he is ready to shake off the defeats of 2015 while he expressed his intention recently when he beats Omar Assar in the French League.

    To affirm his willingness to be on top of his game this year, Quadri began the year with an impressive performance at the Hungarian and German Opens and this shot him to 37 in the latest ITTF ranking from the 48 which he began the year.

    A contented Quadri said: “None of my targets was accomplished in 2015 but yet I thank God despite series of defeat but it was not too bad as second place in some of the tournaments are better than nothing.”

    For 2016, he said: “My target is to do so much better than 2015. I will be very happy if my 2015 second places turn to gold and also helping my French team to remain in top division will be great. . I remain stronger in spirit despite the series of disappointment against Omar Assar of Egypt. To those that have the knowledge of sports, it is one of those things that happen in sports and surely there will be bad and good days but better days are ahead as I strongly believe.
    My last win against Omar Assar in the French league is a real confident booster.”

    “Winning the best player and star point of the year is one of the best in my career and I pray it is not going to be my best ever. I feel so great to have been crowned the best player in the world and it means that I must make hay while the sun shines. It does not really matter if I win the award again but the one I won already will remain in history of African table tennis forever.
    Winning the awards in the midst of the highly- rated Chinese and Portuguese players inspired me a lot and this mean that nothing is impossible to achieve,” he opined.

    Since moving to France, Aruna Quadri said his game has really improved as he now rubbed shoulders with the world’s best in the French League. “Playing in France has really improved my game and tactics. I think I am a better player than before according to my latest form and results in the league,” he said.

  • 2016 Olympic: Egypt embarks on training tour of Singapore for Nigeria

    To ensure that they beat Nigeria to the sole spot in the team event of the Rio Olympic Games, Egyptian national team has moved their training camp to Singapore in readiness for the 2016 World Team Championship which serves as qualifiers.

    Aside Omar Assar who is playing in the French elite League alongside Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, every member of the Egyptian team are at present in Singapore warming up for the World Championship holding this month in Malaysia.

    Africa’s number one female player, Dina Meshref confirmed this, saying that they cannot afford to lose the spot to Nigeria as the West African remains the only stumbling block to the North African team ambition.

    “We are now in Singapore and we hope to play in two ITTF World Tours in Hungary and Germany. After this we will return to Singapore to continue training. We had already qualified for players in the singles event and we want to crown it with wining the sole slot in the men and women team events through the world championships in Malaysia. Nigeria is the only team we believe can give us a tough challenge and we don’t want to leave any chance for them,” she said.

    Also to serve as warning signal for Nigeria, Omar Assar was in fine form against world number four, Germany’s Dimitry Ovtcharov in a  thrilling round of 32 match at the just concluded German Open.

    A very proud Assar said: “I am very proud to be in Berlin playing particularly against the best players in the world. The German Open is a big part of the
    preparation for the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan. Together with the camps
    and trainings with Chinese players is one highlights for this week for me,” he said.

    Meanwhile, President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy believes the Malaysia tourney would provide African teams to shape up for the Olympic Games as well as compete for the continent’s sole slot in the team event.

  • Omar Assar eyes Quadri’s feat at ITTF World Cup in Sweden

    Omar Assar eyes Quadri’s feat at ITTF World Cup in Sweden

    Like Dina Meshref, Omar Assar has won everything at stake at the continental levels this year. Starting early in the year with the African Championships to African Cup and finally the African Games to remain the highest ranked African player in the world.

    From today in Sweden, the 24-year-old Egyptian will be aiming to emulate Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri at the 2015 Men’s World Cup.

    Quadri made it to the quarterfinal of the 2014 World Cup in Germany to become the first African to achieve such feat.

    However, in few days he will be on duty as Africa’s sole flagbearer when the 2015 ITTF World Cup serves off in Sweden and the Egyptian believes with huge support from the continent as well as his level of preparation, he can repeat the feat achieved by Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri.

    “My target is to be a good representative of Africa and to show that the African table tennis has been changed for better. I had a training camp in Germany for 10 days and before that I had a conditioning training for one week after the African Games. I feel very excited for the World Cup for the first time as I am looking forward to a very good performance and to see the effect of my efforts in the last few days. Also to take a cue from what Quadri Aruna did last year which was very respectful as a good ambassador for Africa,” he said.

    Aside from aiming for the best outing, Assar will surely enjoy support from the home crowd as the city of Halmstad remains his residence while in Sweden. “All the best players of 2015 will be at the tournament and so the challenge is higher while my level of focus must be high for me to have the best possible performance too. I have already being told that all the Arab friends and Swedish who live in Halmstad and nearby are going to come and watch my matches with The Egyptian flag to support me . Also some famous Egyptian athletes who are residing in Europe now are going to be there to support me,” he boasted.

    Specifically, Assar admitted that the victory in Congo Brazzaville would surely boost his confidence, “Congo Brazzaville win gives me confidence and the ability to represent such a big continent like Africa.”

    Assar did not lack support from the Egypt Table Tennis Federation (ETTF) especially the President, Dr. Alaa Meshref and the ATTF boss, Khaled El-Salhy.

    “The Egyptian federation is supporting me now especially after I qualified for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. I requested for a private coach and they have accepted so I am very thankful to Dr. Meshref for that. Also I must acknowledge the support of ATTF President, Mr. Khaled El-Salhy who is always following and trying to guide me on the best performance,” he said.