MUSCAT: The final day of the World Veteran Table Tennis Championships Muscat 2023, held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC), saw prizes presented in 40 events.
Two players in particular will look back on the day with fond memories as they completed the coveted ‘full house’ of medals. Maria Donner of Finland and India’s Mantu Murma won gold in each of the competitions they were eligible. Donner added the women’s singles gold in the 40-45 years category to the mixed doubles gold she won with Sweden’s Igor Krokhim and the women’s doubles she won with Sofia Westhom.
Murma, meanwhile, won mixed doubles gold in the 60-year group with Vinay Chopra and then won women’s doubles with Jette Vieg.
Presenting the winners in the singles events was Basil bin Ahmed al Rawas, Undersecretary for Sports and Youth at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth. He said: “The World Veteran Table Tennis Championships 2023 is an essential part within the ITT calendar, with many players keen to take part every two years. We are delighted that 1,600 participants from 69 countries have visited Oman to enjoy our well-known warm hospitality firsthand.
“We are immensely proud to have received positive feedback on the country’s hosting and organisational capabilities to making this event ground-breaking. Oman’s unique charm and authentic Arabian experience, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre, has made this edition like no other in the event’s history.”
Elsewhere in the championship, Gregor Forster and Zsolt-Georg Bohm of Germany, and Norway’s Paal Guttormsen and Japan’s Kazuo Masuda all finished with two gold medals.
Bohm and partner Boris Rosenburg won the men’s doubles 60-year competition and then went on to take
the men’s singles 60-64 years crown by beating Wang Yansheng in the final. Paal Guttormsen, won the
men’s singles 65-69 years title, after winning the mixed doubles 65-year the day before with Estonia’s Kai
Thornbech.
Forster and Masuda each won two gold and one bronze. Forster won the men’s singles 40-year gold, and
earlier secured the men’s doubles 40 years title with Michael Marsden of Wales. He also won a bronze in
mixed doubles 40 years with Germany’s Tatiana Pokrovskaya. Masuda won the men’s singles 85-year event
and partnered with Reiko Miura to then win the mixed doubles. He also secured a bronze in men’s doubles
85-year with Sweden’s Urban Living.
As the doubles events wrapped up, Latvia’s Ina Jozepsone, Switzerland’s Margit Geiger, Germany’s Heidi
Wunner and Donna Sakai all secured two titles each.
Ina Jozepsone won the mixed doubles with her compatriot Sandis Vasiljevs in the 50-year age group, and then claimed women’s doubles gold with Germany’s Sylvia Messer. Margit Geiger claimed mixed doubles gold with Romania’s Andreas Fejer-Konnerth in the 55-year competition, and gold in the women’s doubles with partner Liliia Andrieieva from Ukraine. Geiger also added a bronze in the women’s singles 55-59 years.
In the 75-year category, Donna Sakai won mixed doubles gold with her husband David and the women’s doubles top prize with compatriot Connie Sweeris.
In the 80-year events, Heidi Wunner secured mixed doubles gold with Dimitrije Bilic and then partnered with Ruth Schneider to claim women’s doubles gold. She also takes home silver in the women’s singles 80-84 years.
Hungary’s Gizella Zacher was the only winner from the last event in Las Vegas to repeat the feat. The women’s singles 70-74 winner in 2018 secured the 75-79 years title this time around.
Denmark’s Pia Toelhoj and Sweden’s Petra Sorling, ITTF President, had to settle for silver in the 50-year category. However, Pia Toelhoj did manage to win the women’s singles 55-59 years title later in the day.
Trine Grauholm won the women’s singles 45-49 years title; Estonia’s Kai Thornbech emerged victorious in
the 65-69 years category; Singapore’s Liang Mui Heng secured 50-54 years gold. However, several age
groups were dominated by Japanese players; the 70-74 years title went to Kazuko Horino, Noriko Watanabe
won the 80-84 years event, Reiko Miura struck gold in the 85-year competition.
'HONOURED BY TRUST'
In the men’s singles, Iran’s Mehran Ahadi won the 45-49 years event; Henrik Vendelbo emerged as the 50-54 years winner; China’s Pan Yan emerged as 55-59 years winner; India’s Yogesh Desai won the 70-74 years event and Niels Ramberg won gold in the 75-79 years category.
Commenting after the closing ceremony, Abdullah Bamakhalif, President of the Oman Table Tennis Association, said, “It has given us a great pleasure to welcome participants from around the world to compete in the Sultanate of Oman. The International Table Tennis Federation entrusted us to stage the event in our beautiful country that is known for its welcoming hospitality and breathtaking landscapes. We are honoured by this trust and can assure all participants and international delegates that we will together be witnessing an historic edition.
“We hope that by hosting this event, we can attract even more players – of all ages – to the sport and compete on the world stage. I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth for the invaluable support they have given us to making these championships a ground-breaking success.”
The next edition of the World Veteran Table Tennis Championships will take place from July 6 to 14 2024, in Rome, Italy.
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