Oman to take part in World TT in Budapest

MUSCAT, April 16 - Oman Table Tennis Committee (OTTC) will represent the Sultanate at the World Table Tennis Championship which will be held in Budapest, Hungary from April 21 to 28. Abdullah Mohammed Bamakhalef, Chairman of OTTC, will head the Oman’s delegation which includes Sajjad al Lawati, Mohammed al Kalbani, Board members and the TT national team players Hatham al Mandhari and Muhannad al Balushi alongside with Mohammed Atoum, the head coach of the national teams. Besides to the world competitions, the Omani delegation will participate in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) which will held during the same period. Oman’s national table tennis team players, Haitham al Mandhari and Muhannad al Balushi, are gearing up to take part at the singles and double competitions of the World Table Tennis Championship. It is the second time for Haitham to play in the World Championship as he took part in the previous edition in Germany in 2017 along with Assad al Raisi. Oman’s both upcoming stars, Haitham and Muhannad, are benefited from their recent participation at ITTF Challenge plus Oman Open 2019. Both the players gained good exposure from the top-ranked tournament along with developing their technical skills. This is the second time Oman delegation is participating in the World Cup and AGM meetings of ITTF after their first presence in 2017 in Germany. During the ITTF’s AGM in Budapest, they will announce the hosting country for the World Veteran Championship in 2022. Oman also had made bid for the world championship apart from Malaysia and South Korea. World Veteran Championship is classified as one of the top world class events that will feature participation of more than 4,000 players who are between the age of 40 to 90 years. On April 23, the ITTF will unveil the host country for this high class tourney. On April 22, the OTTC delegation will attend the AGM meeting. A day before, OTTC will participate in the Arab and Asian meetings which will occur as part of the main meetings.  In Budapest, the OTTC chief and members will have a series of meetings with top officials of ITTF and other TT chairmen. The first scheduled meeting for OTTC will be with ITTF High Performance & Development Operations Manager. The meeting will focus on the Sultanate’s preparations for the International Junior Camp which will be hosted by the Sultanate in Salalah in July. Also, OTTC’s team will have similar meetings with other chiefs to discuss the development and spreading the sport across the country.