Nigeria’s top table tennis player, Aruna Quadri, has qualified for the World Table Tennis (WTT) finals billed for Doha, Qatar.
The WTT Finals which will hold from 3 to 5 January 2024 is regarded as the peak of the WTT Series, and it provides the opportunity for the best 16 men’s players globally to battle for a share of $340,000 prize money at stake as well as ranking points to shore up their rating for their qualification for Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Quadri will be making his third appearance at the WTT Finals after he was confirmed on Thursday, 9 November, as the latest qualifier among the top 16 that are expected to compete at the event taking place in Doha, Qatar.
He remains the only African player to have featured in the WTT Finals having competed at the maiden edition in Singapore as well as the 2022 edition in China. Quadri also holds the record for the best finish at the tournament by an African.
In his maiden outing, the Nigerian caused a major upset after beating world number eight Liang Jingkun of China 3-1 to reach the quarter-final where he lost to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano.
At the 2022 edition in China, he exited in the first round after losing 3-1 to world number eight Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju.
Other players billed to feature at the tourney includes Zhendong (China), Wang Chuqin (China), Ma Long (China), Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Liang Jingkun (China), Lin Yun-Yu (Chinese Taipei), Felix Lebrun (France), Lin Gaoyuan (China), Jang Woojin (South Korea), Lin Shidong (China), Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany), Dang Qiu (Germany) and Darko Jorgic (Slovenia).
The battle for the sole slot will be between Anton Kallberg (Sweden) and Marcos Freitas (Portugal) while the only option for Freitas to steal the spot from Kallberg is if he reaches the final of WTT Feeder Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal later this month.
