Africa’s No.1 table tennis player Quadri Aruna will open the 2023 season with the World Table Tennis Contender series in Durban, South Africa.
The tournament will be the first WTT series event held in South Africa and is set to commence on Tuesday till January 15 at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.
Aruna will lead the African contingents to the first WTT series of the year, which is poised to include top-ranked players from around the world and Africa, including African female champion Dina Meshref of Egypt, and South African stars like Theo Cogill and Danisha Patel.
The Nigerian, who recently moved from Germany to Russian club Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg, will look to start the new season on a high note, as he is seeded fourth in the men’s singles event.
The world No. 14 will face stiff competition from some of the best in the world, including Germany’s Dang Qiu, who had a stellar 2022 season, and world No. 7, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, who is the tournament’s highest-ranked player.
In the women’s singles event, Meshref is also the no. 4 seed, and the 28th-ranked player in the world will have to be in top form to stop Germany’s Nina Mittelham, who is the top-ranked female at the event.
Other notable names include French breakout star Felix Lebrun and reigning World Youth champion Lin Shidong of China.
