Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has displaced Egypt’s Omar Assar with just one point to become the best ranked African player in the July 2018 world ranking released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
The ranking which was released yesterday by the world table tennis ruling body has Quadri jumping two steps up to 20th ranked player in the world, while Assar dropped from 17 to 21 in the ranking.
Quadri was ranked 22 in the June ranking.
With 10234 points, Quadri took over from Assar who has 10233 points in the latest ranking.
For the second time this year, Quadri will be breaking into the top 20 in the world having made the same spot in January 2018 – being the first to be achieved by a Nigerian.
For the first time in his career, China’s Fan Zhendong retained the number one spot in the world ranking for the fourth consecutive month.
However, for his compatriot – Ma Long, the reigning Olympic and World champion, it is a very different story; he drops from no.2 to no.6 and occupies what is for him is a most unusual position.
In the top 100 names, the most impressive progress is that made by Chinese Taipei’s Liao Cheng-Ting alongside China’s Zhou Yu and Zhang Jike. Liao Cheng-Ting moves from no.46 to no.36, Zhou Yu from no.87 to no.63 and Zhang Jike from no.103 to no.76, as step by step he moves towards former glories.
