Adedokun Waliyu 
Quadri Aruna joined the list of top 16 elite players listed for the $1m prize money WTT cup finals in Xinxiang, China.
Despite suffering an opening round defeat of 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-9) to Sweden’s Anton Kallberg in WTT Champions Macao, Aruna will leave with a WTT Cup Finals ticket of his own after Germany’s Timo Boll failed to beat 7th seed Lin Yun-Ju in Macao. Boll still remains in contention but is now dependent on results elsewhere going his way.
For the end-of-the-year WTT Cup Finals, Aruna’s spot was secured after Boll lost 3-2 (9-11, 14-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6) to Yun-Ju to give the Nigerian a passage to his second appearance at the lucrative tournament.
At the maiden edition of the WTT Cup Finals, Aruna made it to the quarterfinal stage and he will be making a return to the big stage where only the world’s 16 best will be sharing from the $1m purse.
If Aruna’s conqueror Kallberg exits in the round of 16 then Boll will take home the 15th ticket for Xinxiang, and the Swedish player’s chances of qualifying will come to an end.
Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan is currently Xinxiang bound, and can only lose his ticket if Kallberg, France’s Alexis Lebrun, or United States’ Kanak Jha makes the final in Macao or if one of Mattias Falck or Yang Wang lifts the Men’s Singles trophy. Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar is still involved in Macao, but can no longer qualify for Xinxiang.
Aruna is the only African to have featured in the WTT Cup Finals having qualified as the 14th player to Xinxiang alongside China’s trio of Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, Japan’s Tomakazu Harimoto, Sweden’s Truls Moregard, and Brazil’s Hugo Calderano among others.
Others lined up for Xinxiang’s prestigious event include China’s Lin Gaoyuan, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, Germany’s tri of Dang Qiu, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska as well as China’s Wang Chuqin.
The women’s roll call includes China’s quartet of Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, and Wang Yidi, Japan’s Mima Ito, Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem, Germany’s Ying Han, and Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa.
