Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna maintained the14th position in the World Table Tennis ranking for January, which was released during the week.
The ranking meant Aruna still remains the best table tennis player in Africa, ahead of Egypt’s Omar Assar, who was ranked 24th.
This comes after the 34-year-old amassed only four points (1754 for the month under review) at the recent 2023 World Table Tennis Contender in Doha, Qatar, after failing to qualify from the round of 32.
Ahmed Saleh from Egypt dropped two places to be ranked 75th in the world and third in Africa, while Ibrahima Diaw from Senegal and Mehdi Bouloussa from Algeria complete the top five after being ranked fourth and fifth respectively with total points of 277 and 213 respectively.
Taiwo Mati dropped two places from 97 in the current ranking to place to 99 with 192 points.
Other Nigerian players ranked outside the Top 100 are Bode Abiodun (235), Olajide Omotayo (235) Azeez Solanke (235), Samuel Boboye (261), Rilwan Akanbi (339), Orok Etim (440) Amadi Omeh (441), Hammed Adeyinka (746) and Abdulbasit Abdulfatai (868).
In the women’s category, Fatimo Bello retained her 64th position in the latest WTT ranking for women.
She is currently Nigeria’s highest-ranked table tennis player in the month under review and the fifth in Africa behind the Egyptian quartet Dina Meshref, Hana Goda, Mariam Alhodaby and Yousra Helmy.
Nigerian Offiong Edem is placed 154th with 155 points, while her countrywoman Olufunke Oshonaike is Nigeria’s third-best player and 159th in the world. Abosede Odusanya is 237th in the world and eighth in Africa.
