Ahead of the 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup in China, Africa’s number one ranked player, Aruna Quadri, has been drawn in a relatively easy group alongside two debutants.
The international table tennis events resumed after several months of suspended activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic with ITTF Women’s World Cup on Sunday while the Men’s World Cup will serve off on Friday.
The World Cups will feature 20 male athletes, including the World Champion, qualified players from all completed continental events (Africa, Europe, and Pan America), and players selected by world ranking from the other continents (Asia and Oceania) as well as the whole world according to the provisional World Cup playing system.
Quadri was called up for the World Cup due to his current world ranking and will face debutantes Germany’s Patrick Franziska and Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, in group Three.
Jorgic, 22, is more than capable of being the giant-killer in the group as he proved earlier this year at the CCB 2020 Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux against the odds he reached the final.
Quadri made his World Cup debut in 2014 in Düsseldorf where he topped his group with victories over Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira and Russia’s Alexander Shibaev.
Six years on from his unforgettable campaign in Düsseldorf, Quadri is preparing to do it all over again at the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup in Weihai, China.
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Quadri is now just a handful of weeks away from returning to the very stage that propelled him to stardom, and promises to give it his all at the season-crowning events:
“I am very happy and excited about #RESTART and I am looking forward to it with the hope of doing well. My aim in China is to do very well; be a good ambassador for my country and my sponsors. I know it is not going to be easy, but I hope I can give my best against the best,” Quadri told ITTF Media.
Players who finish in first and second positions in each of the groups will join the top eight seeds in the main draw.
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