Nigeria table tennis star, Aruna Quadri made history on Wednesday when he became the first African to be crowned World Best Player by World Table Tennis governing body, ITTF, at an award ceremony at the Armani Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Quadri, who also took home the Star Point of the Year award, finished above Chinese stars, Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong, the current World Number One and 2014 Youth Olympic Games Gold medalist respectively. European Team Championships winner, Marcos Freitas of Portugal, finished fourth in a poll determined by 50 percent fans’ voting and 50 percent experts’ voting.
Quadri capped off a memorable night with the best point of the year after his crucial winning point against Olympics and World Champion, Jan Zhike of China, at the 2014 ITTF World Cup was adjudged the best in the year.
Speaking after winning the awards, an ecstatic Quadri praised his opponents and thanked the tennis world for voting for him.
“We all deserve this, but I’m just lucky to have won. I thank you all fans for your votes and support! This is the best day of my career and I want to thank the organisers for considering me for this and I promise to continue to work hard,” he said.
The 26-year-old enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2014; he put in an eye-catching performance in the Belgium Open, Czech Open and the World Cup. He also led his club side, GD Toledos of Portugal, to two titles. His performances in 2014 saw him leapfrog from 237th to 30th in the latest ITTF World rankings to become highest ranked African table tennis player ever.
