Oman secure three medals in West Asia TT

MUSCAT: Oman’s national table tennis teams secured three medals one silver and two bronze at the West Asia Table Tennis Championships, which concluded in Jordan after seven days of competition featuring national teams from member countries of the West Asia Table Tennis Union.
Oman’s Taliya al Rawahi, Salma al Nasri and Fatma al Balushi claimed third place and the bronze medal in the under-13 girls’ team event following a series of competitive performances during the championship.
The Omani trio defeated Qatar 3-1, while they went down 3-2 to Jordan, 3-1 to Bahrain and 3-0 to Kuwait. Bahrain finished top of the standings to claim the gold medal, Kuwait took silver and Qatar finished fourth.

SILVER IN U19 BOYS’ DOUBLES
In the under-19 boys’ doubles, Oman’s Ahmed al Rawahi and Eyad al Jassasi delivered an impressive campaign to secure the silver medal after reaching the final.
The Omani pair edged Jordan’s Taqi al Din al Najadat and Jad al Baisani 3-2 in a closely contested semifinal before facing Qatar’s Ahmed Eid Qarni and Rawad al Nasser in the title match. Al Rawahi and Al Jassasi pushed their opponents throughout another tight five-game encounter before losing 3-2 and settling for silver. Al Najadat and Al Baisani are members of Jordan’s under-19 set-up, while Qarni and Al Nasser represent Qatar.

ANOTHER BRONZE FOR U13 DUO
Oman added another bronze through Salma al Nasri and Taliya al Rawahi in the under-13 girls’ doubles after the pair advanced to the semifinals.
The Omani duo produced solid performances in the earlier rounds to reach the last four, where they were beaten 3-1 by Bahrain’s Kinda Mahmoud and Hessa Abdulrahman, who progressed to the final.
SHAMS: MEDALS REFLECT PROGRESS
Oman national table tennis head coach Omid Shams Shahrbabaki expressed satisfaction with the performances of the players during the championship, saying the medals reflected the continued progress being made at the technical level.
“These achievements reflect the progress in the level of our players. Of course, we had hoped to win more medals, but some of our players suffered difficult defeats in a number of matches, which prevented us from achieving better results,” Shahrbabaki said.
He added that competing in the West Asia Championships provided an important opportunity for Oman’s players to gain further experience and test themselves against different styles and levels of competition.
Shahrbabaki said the coaching staff would now assess the team’s overall performance and use the experience gained from the championship to identify areas that require further development ahead of the upcoming stage of preparations.