OTTA to groom umpires for top events

Muscat, March 15 Development of existing domestic referees in table tennis and graduating new umpires are top missions of refereeing committee at Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA) as Oman, represented by OTTA, are gearing up to host high profile events including ITTF World Veteran Championship in 2023 and many other local and regional championships in the coming few months. The OTTA will organise the first umpiring workshop in 2021 and fourth edition of umpiring workshop (beginner level) on Tuesday at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. The three days course will target fresh referees as part of the OTTA plans to groom new umpires for the forthcoming domestic and international events. During the past period, Omani TT referees performed well in officiating different local and regional events. The event, which will be occurred under strict medical protocol to prevent spreading of Covid-19, will feature participation of 25 fresh referees from both genders representing different entities and organisations. Oman’s Hisham al Salmi, an experienced umpire, accompanied with international umpires Maryam al Alawi and Aisha al Saidi will deliver the three-day refereeing course. REFEREES POOL TO GET BOOST Improvement of human resource is one of the crucial aspects that OTTA paying top attention including dedicated development plans for coaches, referees and players in the coming four years. The plan for the umpiring staff in 2021 will feature many educational, practical courses and seminars. Beside to that, the top referees will have overseas chances to officiate at the regional and international TT events. “We believe in investment of human resources specially the umpiring staff as they are classified as top essential part of any sport. The refereeing committee’s target is to graduate new umpires for the world class event in 2023 as the Sultanate will host World Veteran Championship in Muscat at Oman Convention and Exhibitions Center. Beside to the top assignment, we need more talented umpires to officiate at the domestic and regional TT championships and prepare them to obtain the blue badge, which is top umpiring level,” Mohammed al Jassasi, head of umpiring committee at OTTA said. The course will feature different topics like providing the referees with the latest update of the rules and regulations as approved by the ITTF. Also, the umpires will receive detailed explanations on the different scenarios that could occur often in TT games and the best way on taking the decisions. Moreover, the participants will learn about the players’ rights and the referee’s introduction prior to the start of the match. The participating referees will understand on how to deal with bad behaviour from players and how to deal with them prior to any punishments, The course will be mixture of theoretical and practical sessions.   Adil Al Balushi