Quadri Aruna’s qualification fate for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be determined on June 11 when the world rankings are used to finalize the list of players for the games.
Aruna has continued his steady rise on the ITTF Rankings, gaining one step to occupy the 16th spot as the highest African-ranked player in Week 23.
He will hope to garner more points ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics when he features at the 2024 WTT Contender Zagreb taking place in Serbia.
In his bid to seal Olympic qualification through ranking, the 35-year-old will face Frane Kojic in the first round of the men’s singles tournament.
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Meanwhile, the Nigerian trio of Olajide Omotayo, Offiong Edem, and Fatimo Bello have secured their spots for the table tennis event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
They qualified after reaching the finals of the African Qualification Tournament in Kigali, Rwanda. Edem was the first to book her place, securing it with a hard-fought 4-3 (11-9, 8-11, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8, and 11-6) win over Tunisia’s Fadwa Garci in the semi-finals of the continental qualification championships.
The Italy-based Nigerian star will be attending her fifth Olympic Games, having previously featured at Athens 2004, London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020.
As for Omotayo, he booked his Olympic spot in the men’s singles in style, defeating Saheed Idowu of Congo Brazzaville with a dominant 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7) win.
Bello, who couldn’t qualify on the first day, sealed her maiden Olympics appearance on the second day of the African Qualification Tournament.
With these qualifications, Nigerian table tennis players will once again represent their country on the grand stage of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Funke Oshonaike became the first female table tennis player in the world to attend seven Olympics Games.
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