Unlike his continental counterpart Egypt’s Omar Assar who plummeted in the May ITTF ranking, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri maintains his status as the continent’s best as well as 23rd rated player in the world, Bestchoicesports.com.ng understands

Also, as one of the seeded players at the ITTF Challenge Serbia Open, Olajide Omotayo has been set up against Russia’s Petr Fedotov in the first round of the men’s singles at the $30,000 prize money championship.

In the ranking list released by the world table tennis ruling body, Quadri gained some points to maintain his ranking as the 23rd rated male player in the world.
Egypt’s Assar whose first round exit at the 2019 World Championships denied him the chance of improving his rating dropped to 53 in the May ranking from 47th which he was in April.

Omotayo will be facing a huge task against the Russian who fought his way from the qualifiers to the main draw. The Nigerian has been seeded 22 among the 32 seeded players for the men’s singles.

The Lagos State-born star will be hoping to use the tournament to shore up his world rating after dropping to 136 from 129 in the latest rating.

The medalists at the recently 2019 World Championships in Budapest, China’s Ma Long and Liang Jingkun, alongside Sweden’s Mattias Falck and Korea Republic’s An Jaehyun, climb the men’s world rankings; however, the name at the very top of the May list released remains the same.
Once again, for the 14th consecutive monthly publication, despite a fourth round exit in Budapest, China’s Fan Zhendong is at the head of the order.

The status quo for Fan Zhendong, for his colleagues there is major progress, Ma Long climbs from no.11 to no.5; Liang Jingkun advances from one career high to another. He moves from no.9 to no.6.

Similarly, for Mattias Falck, the runner up in Budapest, it is unchartered waters, he progresses from no.16 to no.11; his previous best being earlier this year at no.13 in both January and February. Progress but none can match An Jaehyun, like Liang Jingkun, a bronze medalist in the Hungarian capital city; he advances from no.157 to an unprecedented no.73.

Calista Jacob-Akpan