With just one point, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has displaced Egypt’s Omar Assar as the best ranked African player in the world, following the release of the July 2018 ITTF World Rankings.

The ranking, which was released yesterday by the world Table Tennis ruling body, has Quadri jumping two steps up to No.20 in the world.

The Nigerian was ranked 22nd in June, but he has overtaken Assar, who dropped from 17th to 21st in the rating. With 10234 points, Quadri takes over from Assar who amassed 10233 points in the latest ranking.

For the second time this year, Quadri will be breaking into the Top 20 in the world, having made the same spot in January 2018 – being the first to be achieved by a Nigerian.

For the first time in his career, China’s Fan Zhendong retained the No.1 spot in the world ranking for the fourth consecutive month.

However, for his compatriot – Ma Long, the reigning Olympic and World champion, it is a very different story; he drops from No.2 to No.6, and occupies what is for him is a most unusual position.

He is the fourth highest ranked player from the People’s Republic of China. Lin Gaoyuan climbs from No.5 to No.3; Xu Xin drops one place to No.6.

Differing fortunes for China’s leading players. It is the same for Germany. Timo Boll climbs two places and is now on the No.2 spot; Dimitrij Ovtcharov falls one rung down the ladder and now occupies the No.4 position.

Progress for Timo Boll and Lin Gaoyuan; it is the same for Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu and Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto. Lee Sangsu advances one place to No.7, Tomokazu Harimoto, the winner on home soil at the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Lion Japan Open, climbs two places to No.8.

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Yemi Galadima is a Senior Sportswriter and Editor at Making of Champions. She has a bias for Athletics and was previously a Sports Reporter at the National Mirror, where she hosted a weekly column ‘On the Track with Yemi Olus’ for over two years. A self-acclaimed ‘athletics junkie’, she has covered national and international events live, such as the African Athletics Championships, African Games, Olympics and World Athletics Championships. She also freelances for World Athletics.

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