AL SUWAIQ BEAT MUDHAIBI, STRENGTHEN HOLD ON OMANTEL LEAGUE
The Stag table tennis league for girls (under-12), being held under the auspices of HH Sayyida Basma bint Fakhri al Said and in the presence of Dr Hamood al Harthi, Under Secretary of Ministry of Education and Chairman of Oman School Sports Association, will conclude today at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex indoor courts.
Around 24 students representing various government and private schools participated in this league. The players were divided into six groups. Two players from each group qualified for the next round. Marwa al Abri and Rufaida al Toubi from Al Dakhiliyah qualified from the first group while Rawan al Shuaili and Al Hanouf al Abdulsalam from South Al Batinah grabbed the first and second place in the second group. Arwa al Mashani and Wadha al Hakmani from Al Wusta reserved the qualification cards from third group. Hour al Jassai and Fatma al Shehi from Musandam qualified from fifth group while Mouroj al Rawahi and Nour al Farsi from Muscat clinched qualification cards from sixth group. Leaders Al Suwaiq strengthened their hold on the Omantel League with a clinical 2-1 victory over Al Mudhaibi at the Seeb Stadium on Saturday.
With the victory, Al Suwaiq have moved to 41 points while Al Mudhaibi remain stuck with 22 points in the eighth place.
All the three goals in the match came in the second half after a drab first 45 minutes.
Al Suwaiq were gifted the first goal by Mudhaibi defender Mohammad al Marzooqi’s own goal in the 64th minute.
Khalid al Hajri doubled the lead for Al Suwaiq 15 minutes later to put them on the road to victory.
In the dying minutes of the game, Al Suwaiq goalkeeper and Oman’s current custodian Fayez al Rushaidi was shown a red card for a rough tackle on Al Mudhaibi striker Mohsin Mohammed and a penalty was awarded.
Mohsin then converted the penalty to give Mudhaibi a consolation goal.
SHABAB HELD BY AL NASR Al Shabab failed to keep the three-point gap with the leaders Al Suwaiq as they were held by HM Cup champions Al Nasr 1-1 on Saturday.
Shabab were on their way to pocketing three points but Al Nasr’s Younis al Mushayfri netted the equalizer through a penalty in the extra time of second half.
Al Nasr now have 25 points as a result of the drawn game while Shabab (35) are six points adrift of the leaders Al Suwaiq after failing to take the crucial three points.
At the Sultan Qaboos sports Complex, Mirbat and Fanja did not do themselves any favour as they played out a 2-2 draw. With both teams languishing at the bottom rung of the points table, a win was crucial but they had to be satisfied with a stalemate. Salalah giants Dhofar suffered its second consecutive loss in the league and after a 1-0 defeat against Al Oruba.
Dhofar, who are ten-time league champions, required a lot of technical work to improve their performance and leave the danger area as the team is positioned now in the 12th place with 16 points. On the other hand, Al Oruba came back with a good victory at home. They are now in the fourth place with 25 points and equal the same number of points as HM Cup champions Al Nasr, located in the third place.
The Saham-muscat match ended in a goalless draw. Both teams had their chances throughout the match but could not convert any of them. Saham now have 17 points and remain in the 10th place while Muscat have 20 points in the sixth place.
Sohar’s bad form continued from the HM Cup final as they succumbed to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Al Salam in the South Al Batinah derby. Sohar will have to put behind the bitter memories of the HM Cup final loss to Al Nasr to pull themselves out of the relegation zone. They are at the 14th place with 16 points. Al Nahda benefited in this round when they edged Oman Club 2-1 to jump to the fifth place with 24 points while Oman club remain at the bottom of the league table with 16 points in the 13th place.