Muscat, Nov 22
Oman national table tennis team will attend the 2021 ITTF World Table Tennis championship for the third consecutive time which will take place in Houston, US from November 23 to 29. Oman’s delegation, headed by Abdullah Bamakhalif, chairman of Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA), headed to USA on Monday.
Oman’s paddlers Asad al Raisi and Muhannad al Balushi will represent the Sultanate of Oman team at the global TT event. The Omani duo will compete in the doubles category in the top event.
The selection of Oman’s players came after their attendance in the 25th edition of Asian Table Tennis Championship in Qatar in October and improving their world ranking.
Oman national TT team made their debut at the ITTF World Table Tennis championship in 2017 in Dusseldorf city, Germany.
The second participation was in 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis championship in Hungary. Asad and his team-mate Muhannad will be looking for a different show in a third participation and registering better results in different fixtures.
Oman’s newly appointed head coach, Omid Shamas Sharababki, supervised the internal training sessions of the national duo paddlers including Asad al Raisi and Muhannad al Balushi.
An intensive training plan took place during the previous weeks. The Iranian coach worked to develop the paddler’s physical and technical performance ahead of the top table tennis event. Attendance of the national players in the world championship will assist in boosting players’ world ranking.
On the other hand, OTTA chief Abdullah Bamakhalif, will be among the candidates for the ITTF board members list for 2021-2025 term. Bamakhalif was elected as board member in the last Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) Congress which was held in Doha in October. Sajad Mohammed Baqir was elected as ATTU’s treasurer.
