MUSCAT, Oct 16
Indian paddler Deepak Yashaswini Ghorpade stole the limelight as she crowned champion for two titles of U17 & U19 girls singles at 2021 WTT Youth Contender Muscat on Friday. The young Indian paddler managed to end both finals on a winning note against Uzbekistan’s Markhabo Magdieva.
At U17 girls singles on Thursday, Deepak ended the final by 3-0. She repeated the victory once again with the same result during the concluding ceremony of the WTT event in Muscat on Friday at the indoor hall of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Champion Deepak expressed her joy on clinching both titles. “It is really great to win two titles in WTT Youth Contender in Muscat. This is my first winning of both titles in this season. Both final matches were very tough and I did not expect to win in both matches as the opponent was not an easy. I managed to play with full focus with balance performance in all the rounds. This assists me to snatch both trophies in U17 & U19 categories,” she said.
Deepak concluded that she is looking forward for her forthcoming challenges. “I am gearing up to take part at the Slovakia and Hungary Open in the coming days. My goal is to continue snatching more titles and to compete at the world championship.” she ended.
In semifinal clashes of U19 girls singles, Deepak defeated her team-mate Anargya Manjunath 3-0, while Markhabo Magdieva beat Indian’s Lakshita Narang 3-1 in a tough encounter.
The Indian paddlers’ domination were continued as Suhana snatched the title of U15 girls singles. The Indian champion beat her team-mate Hansini Rajan 3-1 in the final. However, Hansini Rajan bounced back strongly in U-13 girls singles as she won the title after beating Iranian’s Alokani 3-1 in the concluding fixture.
HH Sayyid Fahar bin Fatik al Said, was the chief guest for the concluding ceremony in the presence of under-secretary of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Sports and Youth and Abdullah bin Mohammed Bamakhalef, Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA) chairman. Top dignitaries from the Ministry, Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) and WTT representatives attended the final ceremony of the event.
The chief guest congratulated the winners and delivered the trophies to the top winners in all the categories.
Oman’s girls paddlers including Al Hoor al Jassasi, Noor al Farsi and Retaj al Abri made their debut in the WTT event. Despite the loss and existing from the groups round in U11, U13 and U15, they gained the required technical experience and technical exposure.
The high profile event saw the participation of more than 100 players from 16 countries. The participants competed at different categories which witnessed in the tournament including: U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19.
Spreading TT
The OTTA chief said the association is hosting international events and championships with an aim to boost the game in the Sultanate. “Spreading table tennis and supporting the national economy for organising these events are the top objectives from these high class events. Participation of more than 100 paddlers from both genders representing more than 15 countries is a great chance for our young paddlers. This is the suitable environment for our domestic players to improve their standards by competing with top ranking paddlers and adopting them in these top events. The desired outcomes and benefits are a lot for the national players including gaining the match experience and having the right exposure in the whole event. We will appoint soon the new national head coach and this step will assist the national paddlers to improve better through having a well committed and experienced coach. Beside that, OTTA have many youth centres for U12 in different clubs and sports complexes. Our focus is to develop this category and build a strong national team in the near future.
