Quadri Aruna has reclaimed his place after leaping to 17th place in Week 22 of the 2024 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Ranking.
The ranking released on Tuesday by the world table tennis ruling body, saw Aruna move two places from the 20th spot and second in Africa from the ranking released in Week 21 to gaining 17th place.
However, Egypt’s Omar Assar slipped to 22 in the world rating after occupying the top spot in Africa in the last two months following his triumph at the last African Games in Ghana.
Aruna, who recently reclaimed the ITTF Africa Cup in Rwanda this month, rose by two steps up the ranking ladder to become the highest rated African in the world.
Assar’s drop in the world ranking was due to the expiration of the quarterfinal points he garnered at the Durban 2023 World Championships in South Africa.
This automatically made him lose some points that prompted his fall in the ranking.
While others are dropping from the pecking order of ranking, Aruna’s 1,240 points remain static and the freefall of others prompted his rise in the world ranking.
Africa’s biggest movers in May, Egyptian Mohamed El-Beiali, who became the third-best-ranked player in the continent after finishing as runner-up at the 2024 ITTF Africa Cup after a 4-0 loss to Aruna in Kigali, dropped to 49th in the world rating.
In spite dropping by a step, Egypt’s Dina Meshref held on to the top spot Africa as the 24th best player in the worl in the women’s category.
Meshref’s compatriot, Hana Goda, remained static on second place in Africa but ranked 31st in the world. (NAN)