Mariam Aruna, the daughter of Nigerian table tennis star Quadri Aruna, is set to make her debut for the country at the ITTF Africa Youth Championships, which will be held from Sunday, July 27 to Sunday, August 3 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
The young Aruna is listed in the Nigeria U-15 girls team, which also has Fatimoh Ahmed, Chinenye Okafor and Aziza Sezuo.
They will battle against other girls from 10 other countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda and South Africa.
Ahead of the tournament, the 12-year-old, who is coached by her mother, Ganiyat Aruna, made her WTT Contender debut in Lagos on Wednesday.
She showed great potential, securing a solid win over Benin’s Amady Stacy in Group 15. However, an earlier loss to fellow Nigerian Abosede Odusanya meant she narrowly missed out on reaching the main draw
