Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC) will be transformed into a hive of activity this week as it plays host to the World Veteran Table Tennis Championships 2023.
More than 1600 players aged 40 to over 90 years of age will compete for 44 world titles during the coming week.
The Men’s competition boasts many of the world’s top ten ranked players including the former world number one Raymond Lui of Hong Kong, number two Petr Wasik from Czechia, number four Youssef Shalhoub from Lebanon and Mazen Shaouabar representing Palestine, a former world number five.
The Women’s event is equally competitive with former world number one Pia Toelhoj of Denmark and Ursula Luh-Fleischer, part of a very strong contingent from Germany, joining the very best veteran players from China, the United States of America, France, India and Japan.
Oman’s nine-strong team consists of Sajad Baqir, Abdul Ghany Nasser Hassan, Soman Ukkath Variath, Mansoor Al Wahaibi, Ismail Al Sulaimani, Sultan Al Riyami, Salim Al Battashi, Saleh Al Matrfi and Anwar Abbas.
The first round of matches begins today with the singles competition group stage. The double competition gets underway tomorrow. Participants will be able to explore Muscat on Wednesday 18 January before returning to action on Thursday 19 January for the first day of the knockout round. The Semi-finals and finals are scheduled for Saturday 21 January.
The World Veteran Table Tennis Championships 2023 is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Oman Table Tennis Association, Oman Sail, and the International Table Tennis Federation.
