Quadri Aruna, table tennis flag-bearer in football-mad Nigeria

Quadri Aruna’s eyes light up at the mention of Sharath Kamal. They’ve had countless battles across the table over the course of their extensive careers, yet there’s a rather fictitious figure that the Nigerian brings up while talking about the 41-year-old Indian. “If I see someone like Kamal, I feel like I am 18,” the 34-year-old chuckles.

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Like the seven-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in India, Aruna has been a pioneer for table tennis in Africa. One who has given them the feel of a first ever Olympic quarter-final appearance by an African paddler at the 2016 Rio Games. One who has given them the high of seeing their very own among the world’s top 10 ranked paddlers. And one who is now giving back to the sport “that give life to me”.

Two years ago, the Oyo-born Aruna started a table tennis academy in Lagos. It currently has more than 20 kids across junior and cadet age groups who have access to tables, equipment and training facilities that, at times, includes sparring with Aruna.

Initially, all the academy’s funding was pumped in by Aruna and his wife — a former player in Nigeria — before they found sponsorship along the way in the football-crazy country. That, incidentally, was what planted the thought of building an academy in the mind of Aruna, the world No.18 who still travels to most tournaments without a coach or financial support.

“I realised that in Africa, the government will not do everything. Most of the countries in Africa have a lot of corruption. And they don’t put too much focus in sports. So, it was important that we, as individuals who have played this sport, spend something small to bring life back to table tennis from where I came,” Aruna says in Pune, where he is competing for U Mumba in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT).

“Even now, I have no sponsor, no salary, nothing. So, if I, who has been doing not bad, am not getting any kind of support, what is the future of the ones coming up? When we see talent, we have to help them, support them. That was the idea.”

The idea also was to give direction to that talent, rerouting them from the path of poverty and crime.

“We have a lot of kids on the streets. They have nothing to do. They are into crimes. That is also one of my reasons for starting the academy, so that we can bring some of the kids out of that world, out of the streets and give them this life. To show them that it is possible, no matter where you come from, to become something in life. There’s talent everywhere in Africa, we just need to find the facilities to discover them,” Aruna says.

Early support

Growing up playing a sport that was “very popular” in Africa, Aruna said the presence and help of some passionate former paddlers made him the player and person he is now. As the top-ranked African leading a group of six men in the world’s top 100, Aruna hopes to be the same engineer of change and source of inspiration for the next bunch of African faces in table tennis. That starts with the kids at his own academy.

“In the beginning, I used to practice with them a lot, and I still do whenever I’m in Nigeria,” he says. “If you see so many people who want to follow what you’re doing, it means you’re doing something good. It makes me happy, and I want to do better and better, so that it inspires them too.”

Inspiring Aruna, the 2018 CWG men’s singles silver medallist still going strong at 34, are a few 40-somethings playing on, including Sharath. Aruna beat Sharath in the semi-final of that Gold Coast CWG. Sharath returned the favour at the 2022 Birmingham CWG in the men’s team event that India won. They continue to keep going at each other — Quadri earned U Mumba a crucial win over Chennai Lions by beating Sharath 3-0 in UTT last week — while the Nigerian continues to feel motivated (and young) around the Indian.

“At the CWG, I asked him, ‘How do you feel? You are 40 now’. He said he is doing a lot of physical training, trying to be stable mentally, never thinking he is old,” Aruna says. “If Kamal is able to win three gold medals at CWG at 40, who am I? I am still 18. If Kamal is still fighting, I will keep fighting.”

Aruna is eager to take that fight into next year’s Paris Olympics, which, if he does make it, will be his fourth Games. “I will keep working harder and harder and see if I can do better than Rio (quarter-final),” he says. “But it is also important to be able to be a good ambassador for your country.”