Quadri Vows To Surpass World Cup At Suzhou Tourney

Aruna Quadri

Aruna Quadri

Nigeria’s table tennis star, Aruna Quadri believes he would surpass his World Cup outing at the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, which serves off in Suzhou, China on 26 April and end 3 May.

“I will be going to China to enjoy myself and feel relax during my matches. I will be very happy if I can surpass my previous records of world championships because I never qualify to the main draw in any world championships before in my career. I am very happy to be seeded in the main draw this time around and I will be very happy if I can do so much better than my World Cup performance. I also think it is very possible and this will really depends on how I feel during and before the tournament. I hope and pray to feel so much better. Being one of the seeded players has really boosted my morale and I have no pressure for being one of the seeded players,” he said.

Aruna Quadri
Aruna Quadri

The ITTF Star Player added: “I have total confidence in African players because we have really improved in previous years. Egypt’s Omar Assar got to round of 32 in France and I believe that any of us can emulate his performance and I seriously believe that we can shock the world in China this time around.”

Over 12 teams from Africa will be taking part in the global competition, which involves over 500players from 100 countries across the globe.   

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Egyptian Dina Meshref says her target is to make the last 16 as well as win medals in doubles events. “My target is to enter round of 16 in singles, and win a medal in Women’s doubles and in Mixed doubles,” she said. Meshref however admitted that being seeded has put some pressure on her. She said: “Yes I am seeded, of course it is a little bit of pressure because there are many very good players behind me; however, I am also very motivated to play well and work hard as I am excited to be seeded at the world championships for the first time in the African history.

“I expect that African players would perform very well this year in the World championships and will stay in the competition till late stages. Also, I believe that nothing is impossible since Aruna Quadri and Omar Assar were able to lose so closely by 4-2 against Zhang Jike and Fen Zhendong, the chinese players who are dominating table-tennis, I believe they are close to win the World championships,” she enthused.

Meanwhile, President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy believes Nigeria and Egypt have the wherewithal to finish among the top 16 at the tournament.

El-Salhy’s conviction was based on the performance of Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar in recent times, which he said has made the players to be popular globally.

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