Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri qualifies for Tokyo Olympics

Aruna Quadri has been selected to represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the table tennis event.

The 32-year-old was qualified because of his ranking on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Olympic qualification list as of June 1.

On Tuesday, ITTF Africa confirmed the news on their Twitter page.

“The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has verified Africa’s No. 1 player Aruna Quadri’s Tokyo Olympic qualification based on world ranking allocation in the most recent June 2021 ITTF Olympics qualification ranking,” said the tweet.

Quadri will compete in table tennis alongside Olajide Omotayo, Edem Offiong, and Funke Oshonaike for Nigeria at the Olympics.

Quadri will compete in his third Olympic Games, having previously represented his country in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

He beat Chuang Chih-yuan, the fifth seed at the time, in four sets before edging Timo Boll, a well-known German player, 4-1 in Brazil.

In the quarter-final, though, he was halted by Ma Long, the eventual winner.

Quadri is ranked 21st in the world right now.