Nigeria’s top-ranked table tennis star, Quadri Aruna, will headline the country’s campaign at the 2025 ITTF World Championships Finals in Doha, Qatar, as Africa continues its push for a historic first medal at the global event.
Scheduled to run from May 16 to 25, the championship will see Nigerian athletes compete in singles and doubles events across the men’s and women’s categories.
Currently ranked 20th in the world and seeded 19th for the tournament, 36-year-old Aruna remains Nigeria’s biggest medal hopeful. He begins his journey in the men’s singles Round of 128 on Saturday, May 17, facing Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy. Aruna made history in 2021 as the first African to reach the quarterfinals of the World Championships and is determined to go even further this time.
Joining him in the men’s singles are Olajide Omotayo (ranked 103rd), Muizz Adegoke (203rd), and rising teenage prospect Matthew Kuti (207th). Omotayo will square off against Brazil’s Leonardo Iizuka, Adegoke meets Belgium’s Adrien Rassenfosse, and Kuti will face Poland’s Samuel Kulczycki, all on Sunday, May 18.
In the women’s singles, Nigeria’s top-ranked female player, Fatimo Bello (ranked 91st), takes on a tough opponent in world number 22, Manika Batra of India. Ajoke Ojomu (198th) will play the USA’s Sally Moyland, while Hope Udoaka (301st) opens against Brazil’s Giulia Takahashi on May 17.
Nigeria will also feature in the doubles events. In men’s doubles, Adegoke teams up with Abdulbasit Abdulfatai (Combined Pair Ranking: 115), while Omotayo partners Kuti (CPR: 124). In the women’s doubles, Bello pairs with Udoaka (CPR: 247), and Ojomu joins Kabirat Ayoola (CPR: 705). Two mixed doubles teams will also compete — Ojomu and Kuti (CPR: 213), and Omotayo with Ayoola (CPR: 984).
Aruna’s experience and previous breakthroughs — including his stunning win over Germany’s Timo Boll at the 2016 Rio Olympics and his trailblazing quarterfinal finish at the 2021 World Championships in Houston — inspire Nigeria’s ambition to reach new heights in Doha.
With Aruna leading the charge and a mix of experienced players and promising young talent, Nigeria hopes to go beyond past achievements and bring home its first medal from the World Championships.
