Despite dropping three steps, Aruna Quadri maintained his status as Africa’s best rated player in the world after ending 2018 as the 26th ranked player in the latest ranking released Monday by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Having started the year in top 30, Quadri ensured he remained in the status throughout the year and since overtaking Egypt’s Omar Assar as the best rated player from the continent, the Oyo State-born athlete maintained his record to end the year in 26th.
Dropping from 23, a position he occupied in the November ranking, Quadri moved to 26 to become the only African among the top 30 elite players ranked by the world table tennis ruling body.
Egypt’s Assar gained six points to move up to 47th place from 53 to be the second highest ranked African in the world.
The status quo remains on the pinnacle of the world ranking as China’s Fan Zhendong and compatriot, Xu Xin occupy the top two positions; they remain ahead of Germany’s Timo Boll and China’s Lin Gaoyuan. Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto advances one position to occupy the no.5 spot.
Next in line to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano is Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu followed by Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting, both retain their November places, as do Japan’s Koki Niwa, China’s Ma Long and Sweden’s Mattias Falck, the names that once again complete the top 12.The player to suffer is Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who started the year in the no.1 spot; he drops from no.5 to no.9.
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Meanwhile amongst the top 50 names, there is also notable progress for Japan’s Jun Mizutani who climbs from no.19 to no.13 and for Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju who advances from no.40 to no.28.