Oyo-born Aruna Quadri retained his position as the most ranked African player finishing on the 20th spot in the global International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings for 2019
The ranking for December 2019 released on Tuesday by the World Table Tennis ruling body, Quadri maintained his status in the last two months to remain the best ranked African player in the world.
The lowest spot achieved this year by Quadri was 26th in January while in September he rose to 19 being the best ranking he achieved in 2019.
Also, Egypt’s Omar Assar ended 2019 on a good note as the African Cup Champion rose to 28 from 34 having started the year at 47th place. The lowest the Egyptian achieved in 2019 was occupying the 65th place.
However, among the biggest movers in the world is Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw, a former French junior international who change allegiance to his native country – Senegal in June rose to top 82 in December 2019.
The 27-year-old was listed in the world ranking in June 2019 and he started at 484 but his participation in major competitions within and outside Africa paid off as the Senegalese is now ranked the best third player in Africa occupying 82nd place in the world.
Diaw’s progress attracted the attention of ITTF who described his feat as the best to have emerged from Senegal.
