Africa’s best table tennis players, Omar Assar of Egypt and Quadri Aruna of Nigeria will lead Africa’s quest for glory at the Saudi Smash in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from May 4.
Assar is the best-ranked African player in the ITTF standings as of April 2024, occupying the 13th position in the world while Quadri Aruna is placed 19th.
The duo will begin their campaigns for the $2 million prize money from the main draw on May 4 while Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw, Algeria’s Mehdi Bouloussa and Egypt’s quartet of Mohamed El-Beiali, Youssef Abdel-Aziz, Khaled Assar and Ahmed Saleh will start from the qualifying round for a place in the main draw.
Egyptian duo Dina Meshref and Hana Goda secured automatic qualification to the main draw of the women’s singles.
Other African players in the women’s singles qualifying round are Egypt’s quartet of Marian Alhodaby, Yousra Helmy, Marwa Alhodaby and Hend Fathym, Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou and Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi.
In addition to the $2 million prize money, players are also eyeing valuable ranking points to improve on the ITTF monthly standings.
Saudi Smash is a marquee event in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Series, blending top-tier table tennis action from the best players in the world with dynamic entertainment.
