Nigeria's Quadri Aruna drops to 4th in Africa rankings after decade-long dominance
Quadri Aruna, Nigeria's table tennis icon, has suffered his biggest ranking setback in more than a decade, slipping 20 places to 76th in the latest ITTF world rankings released Monday. This dramatic fall also saw the Nigerian star drop to fourth in Africa - the first time since 2014 he's failed to hold one of the continent's top two positions.
Aruna was overtaken by Egypt's Youssef Abdel-Aziz (now Africa's No. 2, 57th globally) and Algeria's Mehdi Bouloussa (now Africa's No. 3, 75th globally). The Egyptian rival Omar Assar maintains comfortable lead as Africa's No. 1 (31st globally with 1,009 points). Aruna now has 463 ranking points, just one behind the Algerian.
The rankings reflect broader struggles for Nigerian men's table tennis, with Olajide Omotayo dropping to 193rd globally. However, 18-year-old Sultan Agunbiade offers hope with a remarkable 238-place jump to 268th globally following strong performances at WTT Contender Lagos. As Nigeria faces this power shift in African table tennis, should the focus be on developing young talents like Agunbiade or reinvigorating the established core?