The journey to glory for African super stars at the ITTF World Championships begins on Tuesday April 23 as the main draw of the men and women singles serves in Budapest, Hungary.
Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar will be aiming for the continent’s glory in the men’s singles while Egypt’s Dina Meshref will be joined in the main draw of the women’s singles by Reem El-Eraky who fought her way from the group stage to the first round of the competition.
Also veteran Egyptian star – Ahmed Saleh also worked his way to the main draw from the preliminary and he will also be carrying the continent hope in the event.
Having won their qualifying round of the men’s doubles, Aruna Quadri and Omar Assar are determined to give their best and lift the fortune of Africa in the singles.
A determined Quadri said: “I am fit and I am ready to roar regardless of who I am set up against. There is no doubt that it is a tough tournament because there are no minnows in table tennis as everybody is capable of causing upset.”
For Omar Assar, the journey to the top in Budapest will surely be tortuous as he hopes to exceed his last 32 outing at the 2015 edition in China. “I hope and believe I can do better than what I did in 2015. It is going to be a tough competition because everybody is playing well and you cannot look down on any player. But the win with my brother in the doubles was a good start for me in the tournament,” the Borussia Dusseldorf star said.
