OTTA ties up with ITTF to develop TT domestically

Adil Al Balushi

MUSCAT, AUG 24

The Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA) has signed a strategic partnership with ITTF, the world table tennis governing body. The signing agreement function took place recently on the sidelines of the 2023 ITTF Annual General Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. The ITTF quick pathway programme agreement was signed by Abdullah bin Mohammed Bamakhalef, OTTA Chairman, representing Oman side, while Polona Cehovin Susin, ITTF Development Director, signed on behalf of ITTF. The signing function was attended by Sajad Mohamed Baqir, Vice-Chairman of OTTA, and representatives of ITTF development team members.

The three-year agreement will enable OTTA to manage and develop the athletes. Also, the deal will help on technical improvement on the coach education and match officials' education. Besides that, the agreement will support the events related education (competition management) and assist OTTA to implement the best practices in the media and marketing and do proper promotion and popularisation of table tennis/sport for all.

The 'Quick Pathway' is a unique programme provided by ITTF for a long-term table tennis development experience tailored to member association's needs and realities. It provides significant support in terms of financial, material and human resources to the selected member associations in order to meet their greatest needs in the various areas of development and achieve sustainable growth of our sport within the member association and in general.

The signed agreement meant, OTTA will receive funding support from ITTF during the over the 3-year period of the programme and will be based on the selected KPIs and key activities presented. The financing of the programme will be based on the achievable KPI’s through different activities included in the programme on annual basis.

The sponsored programme by the ITTF will support OTTA to take a giant leap towards providing a strategic plans for development of Oman national table tennis. The programme will provide a crucial impact on the national teams as they will get a comprehensive development plans beside the supervision from the expert represented by the Technical Director and helping the clubs to have a perfect structure for table tennis sport. Moreover, the agreement will be a great base for 'Talent Identification & Youth Development Programme' and OTTA will get a detailed educational plans for the different relative human resources in the association.

Abdullah bin Mohammed Bamakhalef, OTTA Chairman, thanked ITTF for selecting OTTA to be part of this programme. “We are very pleased with this agreement and special thanks for the ITTF officials and representatives for considering OTTA to get the desired benefits from this programme. Definitely, this agreement will move OTTA to a different level in terms of the national teams, development of human resources, improvement of the domestic competitions and many others targets,” he added.

“I am confident everyone in Oman table tennis family will impact positively from this agreement as it will contribute to achieving the required development for national teams and finding the required talents and competencies, noting that the federation will work with all parties represented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, as well as the concerned associations namely Oman Schools Sports Association (OSSA) as well as local clubs in achieving all the goals related to this agreement. I am looking forward towards the desired outputs of this programme which will contribute to forming strong national teams, the implementation of high standards local events and competitions and presence of Omani qualified TT representatives at the international levels events including the umpires, competition officials, players, coaches and others,” he concluded.