Musa Mustapha has been ranked the world’s best in the Boys’ under-11 category by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
With this development, Musa Mustapha has become the second African to be rated Number one (1) in the world after Hana Goda was in 2020, named the best under-15 girl in the world.
The Abuja-based Mustapha was part of the Nigerian team that won the 2019 ITTF Junior Circuit in Ghana and the world Table Tennis ruling body has also been monitoring the player in the last three years after he made his senior debut at the 2018 Nigeria Open in Lagos.
In the ranking list released by ITTF, Mustapha, with 128 points, is the No.1 under-11 player while he is also ranked 17th in the Under-13 category while his brother Mustapha was rated 18th in the same cadre.
The Al-Faizun Junior Academy student is expected to be part of the World Youth Series taking place later this year in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
National Junior champion Taiwo Matti is also ranked 12th and 64th in the under-17 and under-19 World Rankings respectively.
According to ITTF, the newly formed World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Series replaces the ITTF World Junior Circuit and now complements the new ranking regulations, being the first step in driving today’s most promising young talent towards the pinnacle of the sport.
