Aruna took to his Facebook page to express his dissatisfaction over two ranking penalties imposed on him in two months and monetary penalty by the World Table Tennis.
A Portugal-based Nigerian Table Tennis Star, Quadri Aruna, has lamented the high level of discrimination, injustice and arbitrary sanctions against him by the World Table Tennis (WTT) over his inability to participate in the 2024 World Table Tennis Championship in Korea.
Aruna took to his Facebook page to express his dissatisfaction over two ranking penalties imposed on him in two months and monetary penalty by the World Table Tennis.
Aruna said that he is being sanctioned for not participating in the World Table Tennis Champions events in Korea despite writing the WTT a month before the tournament informing them of his ill-health and his inability to participate in the tournament.
Despite Aruna’s notice to the World Table Tennis, the WTT told Aruna that participation in Champions events is mandatory as per the WTT Series and Feeder Series Handbook and financial penalties for cancellations are applied as per the respective paragraphs of section 4.1 Entry/Withdrawal Offences.
The WTT in a notice of its sanctions to Aruna said, “The participation in WTT Champions events is mandatory as per the WTT Series and Feeder Series Handbook and financial penalties for cancellations are applied as per the respective paragraphs of section 4.1 Entry/Withdrawal Offences.
“Similarly, as per the ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking Regulations, cancellations of automatic entries in WTT Champions events for personal reasons, as in this case, are sanctioned with a zero-point ranking penalty valid for one year.”
But the Nigerian Table Tennis star questioned “Why exactly must participation in World Table Tennis Champions be mandatory when I have no paid contract with you?
“Why exactly do I have to leave my club that is paying me a salary and play WTT EVENTS? Why exactly is this really mandatory?”
He added, “I have a family to take care of and I have bills to pay monthly,why exactly do I have to be forced to play where I will not win money?
“Several prize money are yet to be paid by WTT and yet forcing players to play.
“My prize money from cup finals,Doha star contender and Goa star contender and even Singapore prize money are yet to be received and why exactly must I leave my contract with my clubs and play WTT Champions in Korea and lose my contract with my clubs?”
Aruna explained that he was supposed to travel to world table tennis championships in Korea, unfortunately he was very sick with chronic diarrhea and he was down for five days.
“Do I really need to die because I wanted to play in Korea?”he questioned.
According to Aruna, “Nigeria did not have enough players to play for financial reason and for this reason my name was always on the list of players to play matches from beginning to the end.
“Nigeria also failed to participate in junior world championships for financial reason also and all matches were walkover.
“For these reasons,my medical certificate was not accepted and I am being used as scapegoat for Nigeria wrong-doings,I am not Nigeria federation and similarly I am not Nigeria government.
“I appealed this judgment and it was not accepted just because I am from Nigeria.
“I have worked so hard to be where I am today and I really do not have to suffer for an offence I did not commit.
“I paid mostly to play WTT tournaments from my salary. If this judgment is not changed against me,we will definitely end up in court. I will never be a slave to WTT and play for bad prize money.”
He lamented that “My first sin is because I was sick with chronic diarrhea, I was not able to participate in world championships in Korea and I could not get doctor’s report on time while on sick bed and my appeal was rejected because I am black, I am from Africa and Nigeria.
“My second sin is because I decided to represent my clubs that are paying me salary and I could not participate in WTT Champions in Korea, meanwhile, I informed WTT one month before the start of WTT Champions in Korea that I had clubs engagement.
“It’s really now a sin to come from Africa, Nigeria and to be a black player and stay in the top 20. All of these penalties coming from WTT. Such an injustice is totally unacceptable.”