Quadri Aruna says he hopes to achieve more success after reaching the quarter-final of the International Table Tennis Federation World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, USA.

Aruna became the first African to reach the last eight of the WTT Championships before losing to 19-year-old Truls Moregard 4-2 (13-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7) on Saturday.

The 33-year-old said it was a great delight to have achieved a fifth-place finish at the competition. He also talked about taking the momentum to the WTT Cup Finals taking place in Singapore between December 4 and 7.

“Very happy to achieve fifth place in three of the biggest tournaments, 2014 World Cup, 2016 Olympic Games, and the 2021 World Championships.

Looking forward to playing in Singapore WTT Top 16 Finals in a few days’ time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian has risen to an African all-time high of 13 in the latest world ranking released by the ITTF on Tuesday.

Aruna moved up four places from his previous rank of 17th in the world.

His conqueror in the quarter-final of the WTT Championships, Moregard, was the biggest mover in the top 1000, moving up 46 places to No. 31 in the world.

Olajide Omotayo dropped one place to No. 92 in the world, while Bode Abiodun – who got to the second round of the WTT Championships – moved up five places to No. 141 in the world.

Aruna said the new ranking was a pointer that “nothing is really impossible”.

“Very happy with my new ranking in the world. Nothing is really impossible, just unbelievable. With your support and prayers, this is possible,” the Africa top-ranked player said.