Quadri Aruna has reclaimed his position as Africa’s top table tennis player, rising to 17th place in the latest ITTF rankings released on Tuesday. This comes less than two months after he had surrendered the top spot in the continental ranking.
Aruna, who recently won the ITTF Africa Cup in Rwanda, advanced two places in the world rankings, making him the highest-ranked African player globally.
Egypt’s Omar Assar, who had previously overtaken Aruna, fell to 22nd in the world rankings. Assar’s drop followed the expiration of the points he earned for reaching the quarter-finals at the Durban 2023 World Championships in South Africa, leading to his decline in both the world and continental rankings.
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Another significant mover in May is Egypt’s Mohamed El-Beiali, who became the third-best-ranked African player and 49th in the world after finishing as the runner-up at the 2024 ITTF Africa Cup, where he lost 4-0 to Aruna in Kigali.
Despite dropping one place, Egypt’s Dina Meshref remains the highest-ranked African woman at 24th in the world. Her compatriot, Hana Goda, held steady at 31st in the global rankings.
As all continental quotas for the Olympic Games have been finalized, players are now focusing on securing their tickets to Paris through the world ranking. The ITTF will finalize the list of participants for the 2024 Olympic Games in France based on the rankings as of June 11.
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