Despite replacing Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri still made the seeding list as the Nigerian has been rated 11th among the 20-man contestant at the 2019 ITTF World Cup holding at Sichuan Province Gymnasium in Chengdu, China.
Quadri yesterday confirmed the receipt of his Chinese visa in Lisbon as the Nigerian heads to China for the prestigious tournament.
Africa’s best-ranked player will know his opponents later today at the draw for the first round of the competition.
According to the format of play, the top eight players have gained automatic qualification to the main draw while the remaining 12 players battle for four spots in the group stage.
As the 11th seed, Quadri will head one of the four groups alongside Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu, and France’s Simon Gauzy.
Bronze medallist at the 2019 ITTF Africa Cup, Quadri has always been a regular at world title events and he is no stranger to pushing the table tennis elite to the limit.
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Playing his fifth men’s World Cup, Quadri will want to better his best quarterfinal finish (the best by an African) five years ago in Düsseldorf.