Five-time champion Quadri Aruna will lead Nigeria’s charge to reclaim continental glory at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, scheduled to hold in Libya from Saturday, February 7 to Monday, February 9 Libya is hosting a continental table tennis tournament for the first time.
Aruna will be joined in the men’s singles event by Omotayo Olajide, while Fatimo Bello and Ajoke Ojomu will represent Nigeria in the women’s singles.
The 37-year-old Aruna and Olajide will be aiming to reclaim the men’s title Nigeria last won in 2024, while Bello and Ojomu will hope to become the country’s first women’s singles champion since Ganiat Ogundele’s triumph in 2003.
Egyptian stars Omar Assar and Hana Goda are the reigning champions in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.
The annual continental championship, which also serves as a qualifier for the 2026 ITTF World Cup, is organised by the African Table Tennis Federation in collaboration with the International Table Tennis Federation, and hosted by the Libyan Table Tennis Federation at the iconic Al Nasr Sports Club in Benghazi.
Assar, the men’s No. 1 seed, enters the tournament as the most successful player in Africa Cup men’s singles history, with six titles to his name — Yaoundé 2015, Nairobi 2018, Lagos 2019, Lagos 2022, Nairobi 2023 and Tunis 2025. His closest rival, Aruna, has won five editions, including the most recent in Kigali 2024.
Since his semi-final loss to Aruna at the 2020 Africa Cup in Tunis, Assar has remained unbeaten at the competition, sealing back-to-back titles in Lagos, Nairobi and Tunis. In Benghazi, he will again face the challenge of Aruna, as well as rising compatriot Youssef Abdelaziz, who is steadily establishing himself among Africa’s elite.
In the women’s event, No. 1 seed Goda first announced herself on the continental stage at just 14, when she stunned the field to win her maiden Africa Cup title in Lagos 2022, becoming the youngest champion in the tournament’s history.
She stumbled in Kigali 2024, losing 4–0 in the semi-finals to compatriot Mariam Alhodaby, but bounced back in Tunis 2025 to reclaim the title by defeating Africa’s most decorated player, Dina Meshref, who holds a record nine titles.
Now 18, Goda is eager to follow in Meshref’s footsteps and continue building her legacy. In Libya, she will face strong competition from Meshref and Alhodaby, as well as Nigeria’s Bello, a finalist in Lagos 2022. Tunisia’s Ela Saidi, who impressed in 2025, is also expected to be among the contenders.
