Ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia; India’s highest ranked player, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has admitted that Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri is the most feared player for the Asian team.
“There are a lot of good players coming to the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. We have players like Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, England’s duo of Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford as well as Singapore’s Gao Ning and they will certainly be tough competitors.
“But I must pick out Aruna Quadri because he is one of the biggest threats for the Indian team as he is a great player and has been playing very well in the last few years,” he said.
Gnanasekaran who is ranked 50th in world according to the February 2018 rating by the ITTF however added that they are working hard to neutralize the Nigerian and African star come April when the competition begins.
“I think we are well prepared and working out strategies to face the strong Nigerian in Gold Coast,” he said.
The 2017 Spanish Open champion who will be making his debut at the Commonwealth Games has also set a target of three gold medals for himself; adding that he believes the Indian team has a good chance of claiming gold at the team event.
