Oman TT team gears up for West Asian qualifiers

MUSCAT: Oman national table tennis team is gearing up to take part in the West Asian Table Tennis qualifiers which will take place from June 23-26 in Bahrain.

The Oman TT team is currently undergoing a training camp abroad in Iran as part of the preparation programme.

The camp is under the watchful eyes of the Iranian coach Omid Shamas Sharbabaki, head coach of national TT team who took charge of leading technical staff of the team since last October.

The warm up gathering began on June 7 and will conclude on June 21. During the camp, the experienced Iranian coach focused on shaping the players for the forthcoming assignments including West Asian Table Tennis qualifiers and then West Asian Table Tennis championships which will be held in Jordan from July 26-31 in Amman city.

The ongoing external preparatory camp will feature intensive morning and evening sessions beside some friendly fixtures against some ranking Iranian players who represent the Iran TT team.

The Omani paddlers went through a domestic camp ahead of the Iran camp at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex venue.

During the camp, the Iranian coach opted for eight players including: Loqman al Farsi, Badar al Jassasi, Mohammed al Motawa, Moyad al Motawa, Ahmed al Riyami, Turki al Abri, Ali al Rawahi and Ali al Ajmi.

The Oman delegation in the Iran camp featured the attendance of Muhannad al Balushi as assistant coach to coach Omid Shamas.

The Oman TT team will target to advance from the West Asian Table Tennis qualifiers and then will eye a top performance in the upcoming edition of the West Asian Table Tennis championships in Jordan this summer. In the last edition in 2019, Oman (Under-12) team paddlers had delivered a top show as they managed to clinch a bronze medal and end in third place.

The Oman TT team had defeated United Arab Emirates 3-1 in the third/fourth play-off match. In the semifinal round, Oman team had suffered a 3-2 loss against Saudi Arabia in a thriller. Omani paddlers Ahmed al Riyami and Loqman al Farsi were the stars of the Sultanate of Oman team for U-12.

Many faces of the selected TT squad featured potential players who delivered top performance in the latest WTT Youth and WTT Contender events which was held in Oman in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Loqman al Farasi, Ahmed al Riyami, Turki al Abri, Mohammed al Motawa and Moyad al Motawa took part in the event.