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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Madalena, POR |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell: Germany |
General Interest | |
| Hero / Idol | Nigerian table tennis player Atanda Musa. (Athlete, 19 Nov 2010) |
| Ambitions | To win medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (henationonlineng.net, 09 Aug 2017) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Qing Yu Meng [club]; Nasiru Bello [national], NGR |
| Handedness | Right |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He took up table tennis at age seven in 1996 in Oyo State, Nigeria. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | English |
General Interest | |
| Famous relatives | His brother Femi Aruna and wife Aruna Olatunde Olateju Ganiyat have both played professional table tennis. (allafrica.com, 05 Dec 2015; phatill.wordpress.com, 15 Feb 2016) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | "It was just for fun at first but I never knew how it would turn out. After training for three years in Oyo, Nigeria, I went to Lagos to play my first tournament. It was then I realised that I wanted to play the sport professionally." |
General Interest | |
| Most influential person in career | His family, and his first coach Oluwole Abolarin. (bbc.com, 12 Jun 2015; phatill.wordpress.com, 15 Feb 2016) |
| Awards and honours | He was named 2014 Male Table Tennis Star and Table Tennis Star Point Winner at the 2014 International Table Tennis Federation [ITTF] Star Awards held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (ITTF, 07 Jan 2015; bbc.com, 12 Jun 2015) |
| Nicknames | The Forehand (ITTF, 26 Apr 2015) |
Further Personal Information | |
| Family | Wife Aruna Olatunde Olateju Ganiyat, three children |
General Interest | |
| Milestones | In 2017 he became the first African player to compete in the European Champions League when he suited up for Sporting Lisbon. In the same year, he also became the first Nigerian to win a title at a Challenge Series event when he claimed the singles title at the 2017 Polish Open in Czestochowa. (ittf.com, 29 Aug 2017, 16 Oct 2017; SportsDeskOnline, 15 Jul 2020) |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "Tests are inevitable but patience is optional." (Facebook profile, 17 Apr 2020) |