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2022 has been a great year for African Table tennis Players with different upsets and historic moments.
The Ping Pong game in Africa is influential because it helps to engage the youths and allows them to showcase their inbuilt talents to the world.
A young girl from the continent shocked the world with her impressive performance and the big boys are ranked global, with the year coming to an end, here are the top ten table tennis players of the year;
1. Impressive Quadri Aruna
Aruna Quadri is one of the best players in the history of the continent, he became the first African to rank top ten in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings in 2022.
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In May, the Nigerian was ranked number ten in the world making him the first Nigerian or a black table tennis player to break into the top echelon of the ping pong game.
The former world player of the year also won the men’s singles title at the ITTF African Championship in Algeria in September.
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Quadri had an incredible year with his performance in international games. The Oyo-born will end the year as world number 15th with 1745 points.
2. Hana Goda
The revelation of the year is the 14-year-old, Hana Goda from Egypt, she is currently ranked Number one in the girls’ U15, U17, and U19 on the ITTF rankings.
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The Egyptian becomes the youngest table tennis player to win an African senior continental event with her triumph in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Egyptian clinched gold at the ITTF-Africa Cup, the second-most-important continental event in table tennis behind only the African Senior Championships.
On her way to the historical win, she defeated seven-time Olympian, Olufunke Oshonaike 4-0, she also defeated African women's Number One player, Dina Meshref, and West African Champion, Fatima Bello.
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She also helped Egypt’s women’s team succeed in the 2022 Mediterranean Games,2022 has been an amazing year for Hana Goda.
3. Omar Assar
Omar Assar was crowned champion of the ITTF Africa Cup for the third consecutive time at the Molade Okoya Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos after defeating injured Aruna Quadri 4-3.
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The popularly known Lagos Pharaoh was elected to the Athletes’ Commission of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) to be the player's representative from the continent.
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The 31-year-old Egyptian will be ending the year as the best 26th player in the world with 1000 points.
4. Mati Taiwo
Mati Taiwo is another catalyst of top quality for the African continent in the ping pong game.
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The reigning African U19 champion had an impressive year, with different medals on the continent and representing the continent at international games.
He produced one of the biggest upsets on the continent in the year beating African legends including Ahmed Saleh, and Segun Toriola among others
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Two believed with a high level of discipline, hard work, and consistency, he would become the first African to win a medal at the Olympics.
5. Dina Meshref
Dina Meshref has been a household in women's table tennis in Africa with her performance over the year.
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Dina took 2022 to another level with her performance, winning her third continental title, the 2022 ITTF Africa Senior Championships.
The 28-year-old was named in the Forbes “30 under 30 lists”. She gained her accolade for sport, the other categories being impact, commerce, money plus science and technology.
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She will be ending the year as the number one woman-ranked player in Africa, 30th in the world with 890 points.
6. Ibrahima Diaw
The ranking of African table tennis is not complete without identifying the feat of the Senegalese.
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Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw is ranked 77th in the world and fourth on the continent with 282 points.
Ibrahima broke into the Africa ping pong game in 2019 after he represented France at the youth level.
He was born in France to a Senegalese father.
7. Ahmed Saleh
The oldest active male table tennis player in Africa relished his experience which helped Egypt win different team events in the year.
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The 43-year-old might be looking to drop the racket anytime soon as he is getting older, and he has paved the way for young players.
8. Mariam Alhodaby
Mariam defended her women’s singles titles at the 2022 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships and was among the top four women in ping pong in the year.
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The 23-year-old will be ending the year ranked 51 in the world with 535 points.
9. Fatimo Bello
The Nigerian National Championships champion had a great year, she finished as the first runner-up of the Africa Cup.
The 24-year-old was surprised by the Africa cup with her impressive performance.
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She is also the West Africa champion and was ranked fifth in Africa with 350 points.
10. Yousra Helmy
She was known as Yousra Abdel Razek, she has been an active table tennis player since 2006.
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You had a great year as she was ranked fourth in Africa and 59th in the world with 415 points.
She is the daughter of Olympic table tennis players Ashraf Helmy and Nihal Meshref.
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