On Monday, Quadri Aruna of Nigeria started the new year with a rise in the global ranking of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). Aruna placed 14th in the most recent ITTF Ranking after earning points in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals quarterfinal match, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). At the 2023 WTT Finals in Doha, one of the biggest upsets was instigated by the African champion.

This was after he came from 0-2 down to beat world number five Hugo Calderano of Brazil 3-2 and book his place in the quarterfinals of the year-ending tournament held in Qatar. Aruna, who was ranked 16th before the WTT Finals, gained 265 points after his quarter-final finish in Doha.

His global rating increased to 1,425 points as a result, surpassing Slovenia's Darko Jorgic, who is ranked 15th with 1,340 points. Aruna's 2023 victory against Tomokazu Harimoto, the former world number five, has also been ranked by WTT as one of the top five upsets of the previous year. This came after the Nigerian surprised the Japanese 3-0 to advance to the Singapore Smash quarterfinals in 2023.

Aruna was reported on the WTT website as stating, "I am training hard this year so that I may gain greater success and continue to shoot up my ranking. "This will help me to ensure my qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."

With a prize pool of $250,000, the competition, which began on Monday with the preliminary round, will conclude on Saturday at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar. (NAN)