Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna Begins Quest For Another Glory In Singapore
Nigerian-born Quadri Aruna will from March 7 to 20 fight another feather to his cap when he joins other world players at the inaugural World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash.
The inaugural ceremony will feature men’s and women’s singles line-ups and set to descend on the Lion City.
After his excellent display in 2021 that shot his rating to number 11 in the world, Aruna will join heavyweights such as Hugo Calderano, Tomokazu Harimoto, Timo Boll, and more who are ready to make a smash in Singapore.
The men’s and women’s single’s main draw, running from 11 to 20 March, will feature 64 players each, with the first 50 players automatically entered based on the latest ITTF Table Tennis World Rankings.
The remaining positions will be filled by four host wild cards, two WTT nominations, and eight qualifiers.
Positions in the main draw have also been set aside for recent Continental Champions whose current World Ranking position would not enable them to gain automatic entry into the event.
Before the main draw, a 64-player men’s and women’s singles qualifying draw will take place from 7 to 9 March to determine the eight players who will advance to take on the best players in the world.
Apart from Aruna, world number one, Fan Zhendong returns to familiar winning ground three months after he outplayed Tomokazu Harimoto at the WTT Cup Finals Singapore to secure the end-of-year title.
Fans will be joined by Chinese legend Ma Long in the Lion City, his first international appearance since Tokyo 2020.
Regarded as the greatest of all time, the two-time Olympic Men’s Singles gold medalist is a crowd favorite, adding star power to the already elite field of world-class talents.
Calderano, the world number three, became the first Latin America to lift a WTT trophy, while Aruna became the highest-ever ranked African.
By Etienne Manimo