Quadri for 2018 CEAT UTT India League

Aruna Quadri will join some of the world’s finest table tennis stars in June for the second season of CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis in India.

Organizers of the Tennis League in India confirmed Nigeria’s Quadri as one of the top players that has signed up for the season two of the championship.

India’s first ever professional table tennis league was very well received by all the players, international federations and audiences in its inaugural season.

Reflecting the excitement for the tournament among players, four of last year’s players, men’s world number 20 Aruna Quadri and world number 34 Kou Lei along with women’s world number 22 Sofia Polcanova and world number 72 Sabine Winter already re-signed for the second edition. They’ll be looking to win the coveted title which they couldn’t lay their hands on in the inaugural season. A few new additions have been made to the second season as well with the most notable players being men’s world number 37 Alvaro Robles from Spain along with women’s world number 20 Georgina Pota and world number 25 Matilda Ekholm who have previously been a part of Seamaster International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) India Open. Sweden’s Matilda Ekholm and Hungary’s Georgina Pota had won the doubles title at Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour India Open in New Delhi.

African champion and one of the best offensive players on the table, Aruna Quadri, has had a great run in 2017 having won the Polish Open and achieved a World ranking of 20- the best in his career so far. He played for Oilmax Stag Yoddhas in the inaugural season where he went on to win a total of 198 points for his team. Oilmax Stag Yoddhas finished last season at fifth place.

Joining Aruna for the second edition of CEAT UTT is world number 34 Kou Lei, who plies his trade alongside Marcos Freitas for the Dabang Smashers T.T.C. Kou Lei that recently won the Oman Fibre Optic International Open held in Muscat.

He scored a total of 174 points during the first edition to help Dabang Smashers T.T.C reach third position in the league. Women’s world number 22 Sofia Polcanova and world number 72 Sabine Winter are back for the second season as well. They played alongside ace Indian paddler Sharath Kamal for RPSG Mavericks last season and together scored 416 points for the team that finished at the bottom of the league table.