by Ian Marshall ITTF Publications Editor

Olalekan Okusan, the ITTF Africa Press Officer, repeated his success of the previous year to be named the 2017 Sports Journalist of the Year  in the print category.

Also, Wahid Oshodi, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation and now a member of the ITTF Nomination Committee, was named as the joint winner of the 2017 Sports Administrator of the Year. He received the award alongside Daniel Igali President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation.

However, the most prestigious award was that won by Quadri Aruna, who at the time of the presentations, was in Stockholm plying his skills at the Seamsaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open where he excelled, reaching the quarter-final stage. Notably he beat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Portugal’s Marcos Freitas.

“The icing on the cake for table tennis on the night was the naming of Quadri Aruna as the Sportsman of the Year by the organisers. The 2017 Polish Open champion beat Chelsea’s Football club’s star, Victor Moses and Nigeria’s national basketball team captain, Ike Diogu at the colourful ceremony in the present of who’s who in the Nigeria’s sporting world.” Olalekan Okusan

Victor Moses was rewarded with the footballer of the year.