By Olaitan Ibrahim
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtook Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked table tennis player in the world the rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday.
With the new ranking, Aruna now occupies the 18th position with 1290 points, moving up one place from the previous rankings.
The feat came in spite of Aruna finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, and his impressive performances at the World Table Tennis (WTT) tournaments this year.
Aruna is the only African male player to have reached the semifinals of the WTT Contender in Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year with another semifinal finish.
This achievement propelled him ahead of Assar, who was crowned champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Assar dropped from 17th to 19th with 1250.
In the Women’s category, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the Week 12 ITTF rankings.
Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot.
Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto, dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun, as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the Women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.