ITTF Ranking: Quadri Returns To 31, As Assar Climbs To 37

Despite losing his first round matches at the Kuwait and Qatar Opens, Aruna Quadri’s presence at these tournaments has earned him a step up in the latest ranking released late on Wednesday by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

Also, the winner of the ITTF Africa Senior championships, Egypt’s Omar Assar achieved the biggest feat of his career by climbing from 43 to 37 in the world.

Omar Assar now ranked 37 in the world

Nigeria’s Quadri moved from 73 to 30 in the world following his exploits at the ITTF World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany but his inactivity at global level contributed to his slide in December to 31. But his quarterfinal exit at the ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Cairo when he was beaten by Egypt’s Mohammed El-Beiali forced his rating to drop to 32.

For taking part in two of the Super Series in the ITTF World Tour calendar in 2015, Quadri gained some points but his two losses in the tournaments may have affected him to just move by one step up in the ranking ladder.

Unlike Quadri, Egypt’s Assar won the Cairo tournament as well as made it to the quarterfinal stage of the Qatar Opens and all thse performance aided his giant strides in the February and March rankings.

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri now 31 in the world

In January, his name was conspicuously missing in the world ranking due to his inactiveness toward the end of 2014. But the Egyptian made an emphatic return to the rating after winning the ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Cairo and this pushed him to 43 in the world. His performance at the Qatar Open further improved his world rating, as the former African Junior Champion is now rated 37 in the world, six steps below Quadri.

However, Quadri and Assar may come face-to-face with each other in the final of the Lagos ITTF World Tour after both players were seeded number one and two by the organizers.

38 year old Samsonov wins record 26th ITTF World Tour Title in Qatar

Belarusian Vladimir SAMSONOV has sensationally won his 26th ITTF World Tour title at the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Super Series Qatar Open.

The 38 year old responded to China’s MA Long closing in on his record after he won the Kuwait Open last week, by showing vintage form to defeat Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 11-9, 11-8, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9 in the final.

This was a dramatically different SAMSONOV who lost in the opening round of last week’s Kuwait Open to turn around his form to taste Qatar Open success, just as he did in 2003 when he was world number one.

“I was down in the first game and won, but I think more importantly I was 4-8 behind in the third game and won; that was the crucial game in the match” stated SAMSONOV.

“Dima (OVTCHAROV) and myself, we know each other so well, we both play for the same club in the Russian League. I wanted to win and I am really happy that I won. I won in 2003 but I didn’t expect to win this year; Qatar is always a strong tournament and this year I played well from the very start.”

The number seven seed, Romanian Elizabeta SAMARA shocked the strong women’s field to become the women’s champion.

Samsonov smashes his way to this 26th ITTF World Tour title in Qatar.

The 25 year old from Constanta, Romania, marked a spectacular recovery from knee surgery in November to upset the number three seed HAN Ying (GER) in the final: 11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9.

“During the match, my coach just told me to be calm, to relax and not to panic because I had never beaten HAN before” stated SAMARA.

“This victory means a lot to me, as it is my first Super Series title and my third World Tour victory overall. Plus my first one since my knee operation!”

Marcos FREITAS (POR) and Andrej GACINA (CRO) won the men’s doubles title, after beating the Brazilian pair of Hugo CALDERANO and Gustavo TSUBOI 11-3, 11-5, 12-10. The Brazilians have made history by becoming the first ever Latin Americans to reach an ITTF World Tour Super Series Final.

Hong Kong’s JIANG Huajun and TIE Yana were the women’s doubles champions. The Hong Kong pair who won their fourth World Tour title here in Doha defeated Singapore’s LIN Ye and ZHOU Yihan 11-3, 11-9, 11-8 in the final.

Benjamin BROSSIER of France and Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS won the respective under 21 men’s Singles and under 21 women’s singles titles to close out the gold medals at the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Super Series Qatar Open.

The next stop on the GAC Group ITTF World Tour is the Nigerian Open in Lagos on March 10 and the German Open in Bremen on March 18.

All Star Cast on Show to Kick Start 2015 World Tour Super Series

The who’s who of table tennis are all in Kuwait City ready for the Kuwait Open, which is the first GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Super Series of the year starting today (11 February 2015) and running until Sunday 15 February 2015.

The Super Series is the highest and most prestigious tier of the GAC Group 2015 World Tour, which attracts all the world’s best players as the most prize money and world ranking points are on offer.

120 men and 70 women will fight it out in Kuwait for six titles: Men’s & Women’s singles, Men’s & Women’s doubles and Men’s & Women’s Under 21 singles and US$300,000 prize money!

The big four Chinese super stars XU Xin, MA Long, FAN Zhendong and ZHANG Jike have all won the Kuwait Open once, but none of them have won it twice. This motivation to create history, plus the chance to get an edge over their rivals early in the season will spur on these top stars.

Stefan FEGERL (AUT) and LIN Gaoyuan (CHN), winner of the Men’s Doubles, posing for a photo with their cheque and trophy at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Kuwait Open in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Credit ITTF

The evergreen 38-year-old Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) is the other player in the field that has tasted success in Kuwait, and will again be one of the top challengers to the Chinese, beside Marcos FREITAS (POR) and CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE).

LI Xiaoxia (CHN) has won Olympic and World Championship gold, along with basically every title on offer in international table tennis. Despite these titles, she has never won the Kuwait Open, a glaring omission from her trophy cabinet that she is desperate to change come Sunday.

The 27-year-old is on the comeback from a knee injury which has affected her form in early 2015, but with LI Xiaoxia, you always have to assume she can beat anyone on her best day.

She will have to be at her best to defeat her world number one and two teammates DING Ning and LIU Shiwen, as well as the Olympic bronze medalist from Singapore FENG Tianwei who won three World Tour titles last year.

The 2015 World Tour is offering a record US$3,000,000 in prize money and will also be the most viewed in history, with more events shown live throughout the world on television and all the events being shown live on ITTF’s live streaming platform, itTV.

As was the case in 2014, the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour will be split up into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events).

The top 16 singles and top 8 doubles pairs on the World Tour Standings will then be invited to the prestigious World Tour Grand Finals at the end of the year, the location to be announced later.