Egypt clinch overall crown, Oman impress at Arab TT

MUSCAT: The Egyptian players emerged winners of most gold medals at the 16th Arab Table Tennis Championships hosted by the Sultanate from August 15 to 20, which saw participation of 15 Arab nations: Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Comoros, Somalia, Mauritania, Djibouti, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Yemen besides hosts Oman.

The tournament was concluded on Sunday under the auspices of Sayyid Saud bin Hilal al Busaidy, Minister of State and Governor of Muscat at the main hall of Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.

The concluding ceremony saw the men’s singles final which ended with Egypt’s Ahmed Ali beating his countryman Mohammed al Bily 4-2.

Later, the chief guest honoured the winners, organisers and the sponsors of the championship.

OMAN IMPRESS WITH TWO MEDALS Oman’s team added a silver medal in the junior doubles after Ayman al Shuhi and teammate Ahmed al Riyami beat Iraq’s Ali Hikmat and Abbas Jabbar 3-1. In the final, the Omani duo lost to Lebanon 3-1. Earlier, Oman won bronze medal in the U-21 doubles when Haitham al Manthari and Al Jalanda al Kharousi defeated Djibouti. Winning two medals — a silver and a bronze is an excellent achievement for Oman considering the tough competition.

In the other results, Egypt’s Farah Hasan won the first place in the women’s singles with her teammate Yusra Ashraf emerging the runner-up and Lebanon’s Thalith Mariana finished third.

Egypt’s Muaman Mohammed won the gold in the boy’s junior singles after beating Yemen’s Ibrahim Abdulhakeem.

Egypt’s Hanaa Ayman won the gold in the girl’s junior singles after beating Lebanon’s Talia Azar.

In the men’s doubles, Algerian players Sami Kharouf and Issa Balqadei won the honours beating Qatar’s Ahmed al Awlaqi and Fahd al Mudhni.

Egypt’s Farah Hasan and Yusra Ashraf beat Algeria’s Katba Kasasi and Islam Aleid in the women’s doubles final.