Africa Top 16 : Quadri, Assar take rivalry to Kenya

The two best players in Africa will re-ignite their rivalry again at the 2018 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup as Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar will be aiming for the ITTF World Cup slot in astern African nation of Kenya.

As the defending champion, Aruna Quadri who is ranked 20 n the world will be up against Omar Assar rated 16 at the epic tournament holding at the Moi International Sports Stadium, Kasarani indoor Gymnasium in Nairobi.

In 2017, it was Quadri who laughed best beating Omar Assar 4-3 at the ITTF Africa Cup held in Agadir, Morocco to seal the continental ticket to the 2017 World Cup held in Liege, Belgium.

Aside Assar, Quadri will be up against another Egyptian warlord, Ahmed Saleh who also qualified based on his world rating.

Also, Egypt’s Dina Meshref will have her hands full against informed Nigeria’s duo of Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong as the African games gold medalist aims to hold on to the title she won last year.

ITTF tournament is also making a return to Kenya 29 years after the Central African nation hosted an international last in 1989. The best 32 players (16 men and 16 women) will converge in Nairobi on March 1 to 3 for the tournament which serves as qualifiers for the ITTF World Cups.

According to the President of Kenya table Tennis Association (KTTA), Andrew Mudibo, Kenyans are ready to stage one of the continent’s prestigious tournament.

“90 percent of the preparations has already been completed and we are remaining with just a few lose ends to tie up. The venue that will host the tournament is the Moi International Sports Stadium, Kasarani indoor Gymnasium in Nairobi and the Kenya Government through our Ministry of Sports are fully committed in Kenya putting up a strong event and their support is in several areas that we have requested them to come in. This process is continuous,” he said.

On the eagerness of Kenyans to watch the best of the continent, the KTTA boss said: “Many Kenyans who you talk to are looking forward to watching the best players in Africa.

This is good for us as most of the times it is the strong sports like football, rugby and athletics that draw large crowds but this time round we hope the Kenyan fans will be able to come and be part of the legacy that this tournament will leave behind and Kenya Table Tennis Association will go all out to publicize the event to the Kenyan public for them to come and enjoy the games.

We shall also be giving access to schools to bring their students to watch and maybe one of them will pick up the sport and be the next Segun Toriola,Quadri Aruna, Omar Assar or even Olufunke Oshonaike.”