Aruna Shifts Focus To Tokyo 2020 Qualifying Tournament

Quadri Aruna will be making another attempt at picking his slot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games when the World Singles Qualification Tournament (WSQT) begins at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar.

Seventy three men and 60 women will be aiming for the nine slots available at the four-day tournament which begins on Sunday March 14 to 17.

Aruna who is one of the listed players and among the top seeds had used the WTT Contender Series and Star Contender as warm-ups for the qualification and he will hoping to pick one of the four slots for grab in the men’s singles.

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With a quarterfinal finish at the WTT Contender Series and Round 16 finish at the WTT Star Contender, Aruna will be hoping to join the league of elite players heading to Japan in July.

“I am happy that after resting for some days following the injury I sustained while playing for my club in the German Bundesliga, I was able to perform well at the WTT Tournaments. I did not train up to 10 days before heading to the competition and that means I was no even at my full best. I am optimistic that I can be part of the four players that will make it to Tokyo from the qualifiers,” he said.

Kenya, Congo Brazzaville and Algeria are among the African countries competing in the qualifying tournament for Tokyo 2020 in Qatar.

According to International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), in the men’s singles qualification, three spots will be available for qualification in stage one while entries will be split into three knockout rounds, starting from the round of 32, with the winner of each knockout round qualifying for the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.

The losing finalist and semi-finalists from each of the three knockout rounds will then be drawn into one final knockout round where the winner will eventually qualify for the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.