Facing China’s Xu Xin at the T2 Diamond Singapore event last week, Wong was hurt 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 16th in the world, Wong has now announced his ankle injury will also force him out of the Men’s World Cup starting on Friday 29th November in Chengdu, China.

In light of Wong’s withdrawal, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been selected to replace him at the group stages of the competition. The 31-year-old is a regular fixture 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 the Men’s World Cup, having played consecutively over the past two editions in Disneyland Paris (2018) and Liege (2017). His best performance, however, came at the 2014 edition in Dusseldorf, 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 2019 Liebherr World Table Tennis 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 came in close quarters to his 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.