OTTC will launch TTX initiative at Muttrah SOuq in presence of ITTF officials
As many as 125 players will commence the singles competitions on Saturday at the ITTF World Junior Circuit Premium Oman Cadet and Junior Open at the indoor stadium of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Six different categories will be featured in this edition of the tournament including: Junior boys singles, cadet boys singles, hopes boys singles, Junior girls singles, cadet girls singles and hopes girls singles.
The Sultanate players, training under watchful eyes of the experienced Jordanian coach Mohammed Atoum, will look to progress in the singles competitions. Ahmed al Riyami, the Sultanate star in the cadet category, is one of the members who could position the Sultanate name in history. In last August, Oman national table tennis (Under-12) team paddlers had claimed third place, in the West Asian Championships held in Jordan. The Sultanate team had beaten United Arab Emirates 3-1 in the third/fourth place match.
Later on Friday, the teams competitions were completed after a busy two days. All the participated players were from Britain, Greece, France, India, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Sweden and the UAE. The competitions were very tough. Chinese Taipei were dominated in the all competitions as their team reached the finals of Junior boys teams, Junior girls teams and Cadet boys teams.
In Junior boys teams competitions, the Sultanate team (B) suffered a 3-0 loss against Jordan, also national team (A) were beaten by Iran team 3-0 and Oman team (C) received a defeat from joint team France and Russia 3/0. India team (B) won the joint team France and Russia 3-2. Chinese Taipei outplayed UAE team (B) 3-0 while the other UAE team (A) won against the opponent Sri Lanka, India registered a 3-0 win against Lebanon team.
At the cadet boys teams, Oman team made an impressive start as they won against Qatar (C) 3/2, Oman team (B) suffered a 3/0 loss against Sweden, Oman team (A) received a 3/0 defeat from Chinese Taipei, Oman (D) team was defeated by Sweden 3/2 in thriller.
The Sultanate table tennis squad: Oman Hopes (U-12) team: Moaiad al Mutawwa, Ahmed al Riyami, Turki al Abri and Loqman al Farsi; Cadet (U-14) team: Al Mundher al Ghassani, Ayman al Shehi, Mohammed al Mutawwa, Abdul Rahman al Zaabi and Badr al Jassasi; Junior (U-16) team: Muath al Shehi, Mohammed al Balushi, Essa al Riyami and Mashal al Shehi.
The vice-president of ITTF and chairman of Arabian and Qatar Table Tennis Federation will arrive to the Sultanate on Saturday. The ITTF top official will attend the function of Oman Table Tennis Committee (OTTC) who will launch, the Table Tennis X (TTX) initiative which is part of the ITTF junior circuit premium event. The function will start at Muttrah Souq from 4:00 pm will include many activities which are based on promoting table tennis sports using big balls and racquet without leather. The function will be attended by the top officials of ITTF and OTTC. Also, the event will be part of sports tourism promotion in the Sultanate.
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