BEVERLY HILLS, June 01, (THEWILL) – In cheering news for Team Nigeria’s chances for medals at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo Japan, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), on Tuesday, confirmed the qualification of Africa’s top ranked table tennis player, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, for the Games, on the basis of world ranking allocation in the latest June 2021 ITTF Olympics qualification ranking.
About a week ago, the certainty of Aruna’s chances of competing in his third Olympic Games was still uncertain as the player and anxious tennis fans in Nigeria awaited the release of the final list of players expected to compete at Tokyo Olympics by the ITTF.
The 32-year-old, who could not make it to the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tunisia last year as he was nursing an injury, was expected to pick his ticket to Tokyo through world rankings since he is rated only second to England’s Liam Pitchford among the top-ranked players yet to qualify for the games directly.
Fortunately, Aruna was confirmed and will head to Japan. He is not new to the big stage. He was a quarterfinalist at the Rio 2016 Games and will be joining his compatriots, Olajide Omotayo, Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong, to compete in the singles event of the Olympic Games in Japan with the news of his inclusion by the ITTF.
Competition for global recognition and honour at the XXXLL Olympiad, which was rescheduled from last year, will commence from July 23 to August 8.
The Table Tennis competitions proper are due to serve off at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from July 24 to August 6, 2021, when Aruna and the rest of Team Nigeria for Table Tennis, will aim to do the country and themselves proud.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
