Facing China’s Xu Xin at the T2 Diamond Singapore event last week, Wong suffered an injury at the end of the second game.
Despite the best efforts by his team and coach, the 28 year old was unable to continue. Ranked no.16 in the world, Wong has now announced his ankle injury will also force him out of the Men’s World Cup. China.
Following Wong’s withdrawal, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been selected to replace him and will compete in the group stage of the competition. The 31 year old is a regular face at top international events and is no stranger to pushing the table tennis elite to the limit.
In fact, this will be his fifth appearance at a Men’s World Cup, appeared at the two most recent editions in Disneyland Paris (2018) and Liège (2017); his best performance, however, came at the 2014 edition in Düsseldorf, when he reached the quarter-finals.
This year as a whole has been somewhat topsy turvy for Aruna. Starting with a round of 32 finish at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships in Budapest, he reached the semi-finals at the ITTF World Tour Bulgarian Open in Panagyurishte. Following that, his win in Lagos at the ITTF Challenge Plus Nigeria Open was followed by a surprising round of 16 exit at the ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open.
Overall, he will be certain to make the best of this opportunity at the Men’s World Cup in Chengdu, as he – and all of us – wish Wong Chun Ting the very best for a speedy recovery.
