MUSCAT: Ibri’s player Ahmed al Riyami bagged the title of the national Junior (U-18) Singles Table Tennis Championship as he defeated his team-mate Loqman al Farsi 3-0 in the final clash late on Friday at the indoor hall of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. It was a similar scenario of the final match for the U-16 tournament which concluded before two weeks as Al Riyami claimed the title after he had registered a 3-0 win over Loqman in the concluding fixture. Moreover, Ahmed al Riyami was the last year champion representing Seeb club and he managed to defend his title this year successfully with Ibri club.
Ibri’s paddlers dominated in the national Junior (U-18) Singles Table Tennis Championship as the third place award went to Turki al Abri after he outclassed Mohammed al Mutaa from Yanqul club.
The two-day event, which was organised by Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA), featured participation of more than 30 players representing different domestic clubs namely: Ibri, Saham, Nakhl, Qurayat, Al Rustaq, Al Ittfaq, Salalah and Yanqul. The players were distributed into eight groups where the top two winners from each group progressed into the finals which played in knockout stages.
The winner of the tournament topped his first group in the preliminary rounds as he registered three victories against: Abdullah al Rawahi from Yanqul, Qais al Hadhrami from Nakhl and Al Muhanna al Ghassani from Al Ittfaq. In the knockout stages, he won against Abdul Samad al Harrasi from Nakhl club 3-0 in the last 16 round before defeating Nasser al Zaabi in the quarterfinals. He outclassed Turki al Abri 3-0 in the semis before lifting the title through winning Loqman al Farsi in the final match with the same result.
The tournament was monitored by the coaching staff of the national TT team represented by coach Omid Shamasharbaki, head coach of the national team, and coach Fatemeh Kivani, head coach of women team. The local event showed many promising faces who will get their chances soon to join the national team camps. Oman Table Tennis team will take part in the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship which will be held in Qatar during July 17 to 22 and WTT Al Maty in Kazakhstan during July 25 to 28 beside Asian TT Championship for senior in Korea Republic in September.
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