MUSCAT, Oct 27 - The ITTF World Junior Circuit Premium Oman Cadet and Junior Open reached to its final stage as it will conclude on Monday at the indoor stadium of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. All the finals of the junior singles (boys and girls), cadet singles (boys and girls) and hopes singles (boys and girls) will take place on Monday. As many as 125 players representing 17 countries are competing in the event. The Sultanate players delivered solid performances against higher ranked opponents. Oman players registered wins in the group stages. Ayman al Shehi won against Jordan’s Jad al Bisani 3-2 in a thriller, Abdul Rahman al Zaabi beat Jordan’s Jad al Bisani 3-0, Ayman al Shehi outplayed Qatari Mohammed al Sulaiti 3-0 and Mohammed al Moutaa edged Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed al Suwalim 3-2.
Chinese Taipei dominate
Chinese Taipei dominated the team competitions. Chinese Taipei, comprised of Tai Ming-Wei, Huang Yu-Jen and Ang Zhi-Xing, claimed junior boys teams title after edging Iran 3-2. Iran team included Ahmadian Amin, Sohrabi Mohammad Javad and Mousavi Taher Mohammed. India ‘B’ claimed third place after they beat Iran ‘B’ 3-1 in the third/fourth place play-off. India ‘B’ included Shreyaans Goel and Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta. Chinese Taipei team clinched the junior girls team title after outplaying India ‘A’ 3-0. Cai Fong-En, Lee Wan-Hsuan and Hsu Yi-Chen were part of the winning team. The runners-up team featured Anargya Manjunath and Swastika Ghosh. India ‘B’ team bagged bronze medal and the team comprised of Anusha Kutumbale and Munmun Kundu.
Chinese Taipei also lifted the cadet boys teams trophy after beating Russia ‘A’ 3-0. India ‘B’ broke the winning run of Chinese Taipei in the cadet girls teams section. The Indian team won 3-1. Abdullah BaMukhalef, Chairman of OTTC, Tariq al Zubhi, Chairman of Jordanian Table Tennis Federation, and Dawood al Hajri, Chairman of UAE Table Tennis Federation, distributed the medals and awards to the top winners.
TTX initiative
On the other hand, OTTC launched the TTX initiative on Saturday at Muttrah Souq as a part of the ITTF World Junior Circuit Premium Oman Cadet and Junior Open activities. The function was a great platform to promote TTX in the Sultanate. TTX was launched recently by ITTF in Katara beach Qatar, Agadir beach in Morocco and Qartaj Auditorium in Tunisia. It is table tennis sport played on bigger table, racket without leather and bigger balls. \ The TTX initiative was aimed at popularising TT in the Sultanate. It also serves to promote the Sultanate tourism and the function venue was selected as Muttrah due to the presence of large number of tourists apart from the citizens and expatriates who visit the Muttrah Souq.
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