Team Nigeria finally secured a place among the 16 men’s teams that will compete in the table tennis event of Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. This development was confirmed based on the May ranking released by the world table tennis ruling body, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Thursday with Nigeria’s men being the […]
via Table Tennis: Team Nigeria Qualifies For Rio Olympics — newfanzoneblog
There are strong indications that the performance of Team Nigeria at the just concluded ITTF World Team Championship has placed the West African giant ahead of Egypt in the eventual qualification for the men’s team event of Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
At the last Olympic Games in London, Egypt represented Africa in the team events (men and women) ahead of Nigeria who has always been hoisting the continent’s flag.
With Nigeria’S outing in Malaysia coupled with the ranking of her players – Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola, the coast is now clear for Nigeria to compete in the team event of the Olympics.
The two qualified Egyptian players for the Olympic Games – Omar and Khaled Assar are ranked below Quadri and Toriola in the March ranking released by ITTF this week.
Quadri is rated 30 while Omar Assar placed 36 in the ranking. Toriola, who has been out of the ranking list for his inactivity in recent times made an emphatic return to the rating list to occupy 116 in the ranking while Khaled Assar is rated 256 in the world.
According to the Olympic Team Ranking rules, the team ranking is based on the rating points of the three highest Olympic eligible rated players of each association, rated on the current individual World Ranking lists.
The rules states further, “Even if an Association has only one or two players rated on the individual World Ranking list, the team of that Association is still ranked. Players not eligible to represent their National Olympic Committee at the Olympic Games are not taken into consideration. The final ranking order is determined by the total number of points earned by each of the teams. Where there are tied teams, in the first instance those virtual team matches between the tied teams are considered to resolve the tie. If there is still a tie, then the total individual matches won against all opposing teams is then considered.”
To decide the eventual qualifiers for the team event of the Olympic Games, the May 2016 Olympic Team Ranking list is taken into consideration for the team selections at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”
However, the President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, also corroborated the Olympic Team ranking rules. “Thus as per the published ITTF ranking list as of March 2016, the current situation now is that for men, Nigeria is in front to take the qualification card for the team event in Rio with position no. 25 while Egypt is coming next with position no. 32. For the women, Egypt is in front to take the qualification card for team event in Rio with position no. 31 while Nigeria is coming next with position no. 41. This is for sure in case the application to count on ranking of March 2016, while we have to wait for two months as the ranking list of May is the one to be taken into consideration after adding some more points through Kuwait, Qatar and Polish Opens within the next two months.”
After months of dominance over Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, Egypt’s Omar Assar has been displaced by the 2014 ITTF Star Player in the March 2016 ITTF Ranking released today.
Quadri returned to top 30 in the world from the 37th place he was in February while Egypt’s Assar dropped to 36 following the defeat he suffered against Quadri at the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan.
At the just concluded ITTF World Team Championships in Malaysia, Quadir only lost a match to highly-rated India’s Sharath Achanta while Egypt’s Assar was defeated by lowly-rated players twice in Malaysia. The defeat suffered by the Egyptian effected his drop in the ranking.
Segun Toriola also made a triumphant return to the ranking to become the third rated African player in the world.
Toriola, who acted as player/coach at the ITTF World Team Championship in Malaysia played his heart out to be ranked 116 in the world ahead of Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin who dropped from 127 to 135.
Also, Nigeria’s Bode Abiodun continued his rise in the ranking as the Portugal-based star is rated 185 to be the sixth rated African player in the world.
According to Olympic team event qualification criteria, the ranking of the three players in each country will determine their eventual qualification for the Olympics.
As it is Nigeria players are ranked higher than the Egyptians and this was also confirmed by the President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, who has said that it is the May ranking of the three top players in Nigeria and Egypt that will decide the eventual team that will qualify for the men’s team event of the Rio Olympic Games.
From starting the year among the top 30 players in the world, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri ended 2015 as number 50 according to the latest ranking released on Tuesday by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
However, Egypt’s Omar Assar, who started the year as number 43 finished as Africa’s best rated player in the world by occupying 31st in the latest ITTF ranking.
This year, Quadri featured in more than five ITTF World Circuits with his best being the Lagos Open where he played in the final against Assar. But in Europe, he took part in the German, Spanish, Polish, Croatia and Swedish Opens while he was also in Kuwait and Qatar Opens where he managed to make it to the last 32 in some of this tournaments. His best outing in Europe was at the Croatia Open where he made it to the last 16.
In Africa, twice he played second fiddle to Egypt’s Assar at the African Senior Cup in Cameroun and African Games in Congo Brazzaville.
Despite these, Quadri, whose performance at the 2014 World Cup in Germany earned him the 2014 ITTF Star Player award attracted a lot of European teams from Germany and France but the Oyo State-athlete decided to pitch his tent with Jura Morez in the French elite league, while he also features for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
Former national coach, Babatunde Obisanya believes Quadri has not utilised his potential considering the rare skills possess by the player. “I think Quadri has not really lived up to expectations considering the kind of potential he has. For a player to make it to the top 30, it is no child’s play and for him to have ended the year at 50 shows that he needs to work harder in 2016. I believe he can remain among the top 20 but he just needs to get the cooperation of those that matter in the sport \. I believe he can make it up there in 2016 if he continues to work hard,” Obisanya said.
From being ranked 257 in February this year, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri became the biggest mover in the September International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking as the African champion is now rated 73 in the world.
In August, Quadri was listed as one of the Most active players by ITTF and as if that was not enough the Oyo State-born player then ranked 111 caused two major upsets at the last Czech Open when he defeated world’s number 24 and 38 to make it to the last eight of the championship.
As the first Nigerian to achieve such a feat in an ITTF Pro Tour moved from 111 to be rated 73 in the world following the release of the September ranking by the world table tennis ruling body.
For this feat, Quadri is now the second highly rated African player in the world behind Egypt’s Omar Assar, who is in top 70. At the Czech Open, Assar failed to make it beyond the second round (round of 32) while Quadri made it to the quarterfinal of the competition where he was edged out by the eventual runner up of the tournament, Germany’s Patrick Baum.
According to ITTF Publication Director, Ian Marshall, Frenchman Simon Gauzy, Spain’s He Zhiwen, Russia’s Kirill Skachkov and the Slovak Republic’s Wang Yang make progress in the September ranking following their Czech Republic excursion but none can match Nigeria’s Quadri.
“Kirill Skachkov moves from no.73 to no.63 and Simon Gauzy from no.88 to no.65; whilst He Zhiwen advances from no.92 to no.79 and Wang Yang from no.108 to no.93. However, compared with Quadri they are minor moves; the 26 year-old Nigerian advances from a previous best of number 111 to 73, following his Men’s Singles quarter-final appearance,” Marshall said.
For the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, Quadri’s performance in recent time did not come on a platter of gold, as the player remains one of the of most disciplined and hardworking players that the country has had in recent times.
“I am not surprised that Quadri is doing well in recent times, he has always been a very disciplined and hardworking player who just needs to be supported. For us, it is a good one for the country, as the federation would continue to support the players in their quest to progress in their careers. We are proud of what Quadri has done and will still do and we hope sponsors will avail themselves the opportunity to support the player in his quest to make it to the zenith of the game,” the NTTF boss said.
Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has been listed amongst the top 10 active players in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking following his superlative performance at the last Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Quadri, who was ranked 237 in February this year is now rated 108 in the world following the release of the August ranking by the world table tennis rulling body.
In the last two months, Quadri had defeated some of the world’s highly rated players like Egypt’s duo of Oma Assar and El-Sayed Lashin as well as Singapore’s Jian Zhan.
His triumph over Egypt’s Lashin at the Africa Top 16 Cup ensured that the Nigerian will fly Africa’s flag at the 2014 Men’s World Cup in Germany come October.
As the most consistent player in Africa this year, Quadri denied Egypt’s Assar the chance to feature in another World Cup when the Nigerian dazed the Egyptian 4-2 in the semifinal of the African Top 16 Cup, which serves as the continental qualifiers for the World Cup.
Speaking on Team Nigeria’s performance in Glasgow, Quadri said: “i must confess that our team did great because it wasn’t easy to pick up a medal in Glasgow in the midst of top players in the world.
We had over 10 players in Glasgow ranked among the top 100 in the world. Winning a bronze medal in Glasgow was like winning a gold medal and that’s why our jubilation was great and with this i think we did great and surpassed our last games performance in India.”
On his outing, he said: “I think my personal performance was not bad becuase i gave my best and i am happy that I contributed to the team’s medal success. I did not lose a single individual match in the team event and I thank God for giving me the energy to achieve this.”
He however, emphasised the immense contribution of Segun Toriola to the team. “Toriola is still important to the team as we all witnessed what he did in Glasgow. He really motivated and encouraged us.
He was also part of the selected players that won the bronze medal match against India, while his partnership with Ojo Onaolapo was superb, even after he retires we will surely need his services,” he said.
He attributed his recent exploits to his participations in some Pro Tours and tournaments, while calling on the National Sports Commissison (NSC) to support the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) in its efforts to lift the fortune of the game in the country.
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