Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Egyptian paddlers dominated winning majority of gold medals as the curtain came down on the 16th Arab Table Tennis Championships at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Sunday night.
In fact, the final gold medal match, the summit clash of men’s individual category, was an all Egyptian affair with Ahmed Ali defeating Mohammed Al Beeli 4-2 capping a great championship for their country.
The glittering closing ceremony was presided over by Sayyid Saud bin Hilal Al Busaidi, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar in the presence of Ministry of Sports Affairs, Arab Table Tennis Federation and Oman Table Tennis Committee officials.
While the Egyptians dominated the proceedings, Oman managed to win a silver medal on the concluding day to add to the bronze medal they won earlier in the championship.
Oman’s silver came through the efforts of Ahmed Al Shuhi and Ahmed Al Riyami in the boys junior doubles competition. In the summit clash, the Omani duo lost 1-3 to Iraq’s Ali Hikmat and Abbas Jabar.
In the women’s category too the Egyptians stamped their authority with Farah Hasan and Yusra Ashraf taking gold and silver respectively in the individual category. Mariana of Lebanon settled for the bronze medal.
Yusra Ashraf and Farah Hasan went on to win doubles gold for Egypt beating Algeria’s Katia and Islam 3-2 in the final.
Aya Mohammed and Maha Falmazri of Qatar won the bronze medal.
In the men junior individual category, Egypt’s Momin Mohammed got the better of Yemen’s Ibrahim Abdulhakim to take the gold medal while Bustani of Lebanon won the bronze.
In the women’s junior individual, Hana Aiman of Egypt won the gold. Azaz of Lebanon won the silver and Iraq’s Saji Mahi the bronze medal.
In the girls junior doubles, Hana Aiman and Roa Salah of Egypt defeated Mariam Ali and Shahad Abdulhadi of Qatar to bag the gold medal. Azaz and Fatima Al Dhafdouqi of Lebanon took the bronze.
However, there was one expection in the men’s doubles where the Egyptian pair of Mohammed El Beeli and Ahmed Ali had to settle for the bronze.
The gold went to Algerians Sami Kharouf and Isa Balkadi after defeating Qatar’s Ahmed Al Oulaki and Fahd Al Maghni.
Duirng the closing ceremony, Rashad bin Ahmed Al Hinai, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Sports Affairs, said: “The success of the championship reflects positively not just on the sport but on other aspects like tourism, cultural and economy.”
Khalil bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi, chairman of the Arab Table Tennis Federation, said that the 16th Arab Table Tennis Championship was one of the best championships while Oman Table Tennis Committee chief Abdullah bin Mohammed Ba Mukhalif said the championship will be a turning point for the table tennis in the Sultanate.
