Aruna Quadri is the only African player ranked among the top 20 players in the world.
The victory of Nigeria table tennis star Aruna Quadri at the just concluded African Championship in Rades, Tunisia is yielding an instant impact.
In the latest International Table Tennis Federation rankings, Aruna has moved up two places to the 16th position in the world and undisputed number one in Africa.
At the recent tournament in Tunisia, while Nigeria in the team game final succumbed to Egypt, Aruna Quadri pumped up the volume to retain his African crown at the expense of Egypt's Ahmed Saleh in the Singles Men final.
The Nigerian top seed retained his men's singles title with a convincing 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) amidst missing a direct qualifying spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Only African in top 20
The latest ranking released by the table tennis international body shows that the Nigerian international moved from his previous 18th position to 16th.
Aruna earned 500 ranking points for a total of 1260 and remains the best-ranked African player.
He is the only African player in the world top 20.
"I am happy with the title because I have a good and bad memory of Tunis, having got injured here during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualification," the 35-year-old said.
"Winning another title here is good to erase the bad memory. This win will remain with me for a long time. I am happy and I look forward to the next challenge."
Since 2018, Aruna has secured three African singles titles, triumphed in doubles three times, and lol) victorious in two team events.
Other Top Ranked Nigerians
17 year old, Taiwo Mati is the second Nigerian to feature in the top 100 in the world though he dropped two places again to 92nd in the world with 207 points.
The Nigerian duo of Omotayo Olajide and Bode Abiodun made appreciable improvements as they moved up from 264 and 294 spots respectively to rank 104 and 146.
Meanwhile, the trio of Amadi Omeh, Azeez Solanke and Riliwan Akanbi dropped in the latest rankings for men.
Omeh, who dropped four spots, is now placed 169th. Akanbi on his part dropped four spot in the recent ranking released to 273 just as Solanke dropped two spots to 286th.
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Top African Player Rankings
Omar Assar of Egypt narrowly misses out after moving one place up to 21st in the world with a total of 990 points. Ahmed Saleh made an incredible leap moving 218 places to finish the month at 52nd and third in Africa with 38 points.
Mohamed Beiali is ranked 62nd in the world and fourth in the continent, having chalked up 307 points.
Senegal's Ibrahima Diaw lost two spots to finish the month at 90 in the world and fifth on the continent, having chalked up 208 points.
World's Top 5
Chinese trio Fan Zhendong, WANG Chuqin, and Legend MA Long with 7105 points, 6285 points, 4145 points occupy the World top 4 spots respectively.
While, Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto on 2740 points and Brazil's Hugo Calderano with 2575 points, completes the world's top five.
