Quadri Aruna

Quadri Akinade Aruna (born 9 August 1988) is a professional Nigerian table tennis player. He competed for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, and 2020 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals in 2016.[3] He is the first African player to be ranked in the top 10 in the world. Quotes Fifteen (15) years ago,I arrived in Portugal to play as a professional table tennis player in Portuguese super league and almost every weekend I played league matches for my club, and internationally I was playing minimum of one tournament in a month with the support of Barrister Wahid Enitan Oshodi, the present president of Africa table tennis federation and this financial support from him made me improved rapidly. Quadri's lamentation With zero support from Nigeria government , I played 99% of the tournaments without a coach and I travelled most of the time alone. Quadri's lamentation Year after year, I keep playing without a coach because Nigeria refused to support me and If I feature in 12 tournaments in a year, Nigeria only pay for one tournament which is mostly African tournament and rest of the tournaments are self sponsored and support from my sponsor GEWO. Quadri's lamentation Years after, the same Barrister Wahid Enitan Oshodi got me the only sponsor ever I had from Nigeria, BABAIJEBU for three years and this played an important role in my 2016 RIO Olympic Games preparation where I got to quarter finals. Quadri's lamentation 2014 World Cup in Dusseldorf, my former sponsor (Joola) supported me with German coach called ADOMEIT while Barrister Wahid Enitan Oshodi paid for my flight ticket and hotel and the coach presence got me to quarter finals. Quadri's lamentation 2025 world championships in Doha,I bought my ticket myself because Nigeria refused to buy my ticket on time and I had to be in Doha days before my participation, I played my first two matches with coach Dotun Omoniyi and I felt totally comfortable with his words while playing, after winning my first two matches, Nigeria said coach Dotun could not continue to coach me because there was no money to change his flight that he had to return to Nigeria. Quadri's lamentation Thanks to everyone for the support over the years. Quadri's lamentation It’s time, it’s very important Nigeria start to invest in the present young players to attend tournaments regularly. Quadri's lamentation I later paid a friend from TOGO to change his flight to coach me in my round of 32 with the help of FANNY as my coach from Togo,I got to round of 16 in Doha world championships. Quadri's lamentation "I'm trying to give support to the sport of table tennis in Nigeria, this is the future, You know, in table tennis we've had several players in the top world events at the age of 40, In August, I will be 38. I think I can try one more Olympics and see what will happen. In sports there will be ups and there will be downs," I started an academy, in a different part of Nigeria, four years ago now. I am trying to give back to the sport of table tennis in Nigeria, to support as many young kids as possible, so that we can have better players in the future." Quadri building the next generation So no matter what, don't give up. Keep fighting and you can become it. It's all about belief and never giving up. Because even when you have it all and you give up, you can actually lose it all. You know, it's just about – no matter where you come from – everything is possible. You can actually become whoever you want to be in sports if you really believe and work tirelessly. I told myself I will not give up. In all, the feeling was that of joy but there was little or no time to celebrate much. I didn’t have a lot of time; I had to get back home. I was very happy. There was no big celebration. It’s just the spirit of never giving up, spirit of working so hard for the result. I lost to Omar three times, one to another Egyptian. But I recall two years ago when I was world number 10. I was close to winning in the final to create another history of becoming number 9 but I lost because I got injured in the middle of the match. They are playing already. They have been playing for years now. Four months ago, my son was playing, we are doing our best. We will not force anything on them, we will support them. My daughter and sons are playing till last week. They may play internationals soon. We (My wife and I) played several times. It’s impossible to beat my wife If I win, I won’t sleep at home or there might be no food for me. She’s actually playing. I vie for honours outside the house, when we play at home, she is champion. When I was in primary and secondary school I used to run a lot. I was very good in relays and 100m race. I remember vividly that I represented my primary school but somehow, I discovered that I was better in table tennis and so I moved in to focus on it. We will be playing the WTT champion in China. We will be play ing in other places. I will play in Lagos again and then in Thailand and we will have about four or five tournament before the Olympics. Slovenia, Lagos and Chi- na. After that, we have about two or three weeks to get well. It’s a loaded season especially with the Olympic Games in the mix. External links Category:Sportspeople from Nigeria Category:Olympic athletes for Nigeria Category:Table tennis players Category:1988 births Category:Living people