Al Riyami shines at ISC Open

MUSCAT: Talented Omani player, Ahmed Al Riyami set the early pace on the opening day of the Villeroy & Boch +Hansgrohesponsored Open Table Table Tennis Tournament organised by the Indian Social Club (ISC).

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.

In 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 hardfought 6-11, 11-2, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7 win over Indonesian Tito Winbowo. Tito had earlier disposed off Sri Gauranga11-5, 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 of newcomer Humaid bin Shoaib, Anirudh Menon beat Shrineekhetan A 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, Viren Kundnani triumphed 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 over Siddhant Guber, Sibil Joseph defeated Shashank C.B. 11-8, 11-3, 11-2, Harikrishna Biju prevailed over Arnav Mohot 11-3, 11-4, 11-0. Full story @ timesofoman.com/sports