Table tennis player Quadri Akinade Aruna was born in Oyo, Nigeria, on August 9, 1988. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he represented Nigeria and competed, making it to the quarterfinals.
He is the first player from Africa to be listed among the top 10. He advanced to the Men’s Singles quarterfinals at the 2014 World Cup.
He reached the semi-finals of the 2017 ITTF World Challenge Bulgaria Open before losing to the eventual champion, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, in a close match. Aruna is renowned for his forehand-focused playing approach, which leads to numerous victories. He is a player sponsored by Gewo.
In 2014, he received the Star Player of the Year award from the International Table Tennis Federation while holding the 30th-best ranking in the world of table tennis.
He competed for Nigeria on the bronze-winning team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
At the club level, Aruna Quadri recently joined forces with TTC RhönSprudel Maberzell Fulda, one of the top clubs in the German Bundesliga Table Tennis.
He emerged overall winner in the men’s singles of the 2022 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championship.
The 34-year-old Nigerian defeated Egypt’s Omar Assar to win his second continental title, which took place on September 9, 2022, in Algiers, Algeria.
Also in 2022, Aruna hit another all-time high by breaking into the top 10 in the world as the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) released its latest rankings.
Aruna’s ranking of number 10 in the world was achieved following the approval of the new World Ranking system by the ITTF Executive Committee.
According to World Table Tennis (WTT), it has been a long time coming as the King of Africa has finally made it into the Top 10 in the world.
With the ranking, Aruna officially became the first-ever African, Nigerian, and black player to be rated in the top 10 in the world table tennis ranking.
Written by: Adekunle Adeniyi