Ahmed al Riyami shines at ISC Open

MUSCAT: Talented Omani player Ahmed al Riyami set the early pace on the opening day of the Open table tennis tournament organised by the Indian Social Club and sponsored by Villeroy & Boch + Hansgrohegot. The tournament got off to a hectic start after veteran Nitin Vaidya declared the tournament open after exchanging a few rallies with sevenyear-old Sammridhi, the youngest participant in the tournament.

In first round action of the boys under-13 singles, Ahmed al Riyami put in a brilliant all-round display to record two back-to-back victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

In the first round, Ahmed downed Shayaan Tanveer with a convincing 11-5,11-5,11-9 verdict and in the second showed great fighting qualities to register a 6-11, 11-2, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7 win over Indonesian Tito Winbowo.

Tito had earlier disposed off Gauranga 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8.

In other first round matches, Aditya Sairam defeated Rishabh Sheth 11-7, 11-4, 11-5, Abhinav Raghu ousted Wasi Mohamad 11-9, 11-5, 11-3, Vedant Bahirat showed no mercy in his 11-0, 11-0, 11-0 blanking over newcomer Humaid bin Shoaib, Anirudh Menon beat Shrineekhetan A 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, Viren Kundnani triumphed 11-6, 118, 11-7 over Siddhant Guber, Sibil Joseph defeated Shashank CB 11-8, 11-3, 11-2, Harikrishna Biju prevailed over Arnav Mohot 11-3, 11-4, 11-0.

In the second round of the same event, Aditya Sairam defeated Abhinav Raghu 11-1, 11-8, 12-10, Sibil Josep struggled before overcoming Anirudh Menon 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8. Viren Kundnani also won his second round when he defeated Harikrishna Biju 11-5, 11-4, 11-4. Sri