MUSCAT, NOV 3
Chinese paddlers made a clean sweep in all the events at the competitive WTT Contender Muscat 2024, which concluded in Muscat Governorate on Saturday at the indoor hall of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. Young players from China, including both genders, produced a series of impressive results to top the leaderboard in each of the events. The only South Korean pairs and the Hong Kong duo who were in the finals of the women’s doubles event and mixed doubles event suffered defeat to the Chinese pairs.
World No 2 Lin Shidong confirmed his top show with a 4-1 win over his teammate Wen Ruibo (Seed No 2 in the tournament). The top-seeded player in the event produced an excellent performance as he ended the opening set by 11-6 before Ruibo bounced back to make a powerful comeback in the next set, winning 9-11. In the following three sets, Lin Shidong dominated to seal his victory by 11-1, 11-2, and 11-7, securing the men’s singles event title.
Chinese paddler Kuai Man stole the limelight as she crowned champion for two titles: women’s singles and the mixed doubles event with Lin Shidong. The young paddler managed to end the women’s singles on a successful note, wrapping up the match at 4-2 (12-10, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-9), while in the mixed doubles event, they won against Doo Hoi and Wong Chun from Hong Kong.
In the men’s doubles final, China’s duo of Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng grabbed the title following their defeat of their teammates Zhou Qihao and Xue Fei by 3-1 (11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8). The Chinese pair of Yang Yiyun and Zhu Sibing blanked the South Korean duo of Kim Seoyun and Yoon Hyobin by 3-1 (9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 9-11) to clinch the title of the women’s doubles.
The event offered a total cash prize of $80,000 in five disciplines, including men’s and women’s singles/doubles and mixed doubles. All the paddlers who reached the main draw received their cash prizes.
The six-day event featured the participation of 180 paddlers, referees, and officials representing 22 countries across the world, including China, Croatia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, Czech Republic, and the hosts, the Sultanate of Oman.
Basil bin Ahmed al Rawas, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Sports and Youth, was the chief guest for the final, in the presence of Abdullah bin Mohammed Bamakhlif, Chairman of the Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA). The chief guest awarded the trophies and individual awards to the winning players. The representatives of OTTA's commercial partners took part in distributing the awards to the winners in different categories.
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