Curtains come down on Asian Table Tennis Championship

DOHA -  South Korea’s Lee Sang-su won the men’s singles title on the final day as the curtains came down on the 25th edition of Asian Table Tennis Championship here at the Lusail Sports Arena on Tuesday. The competition, hosted by the Qatar Table Tennis Association under the aegis of Qatar Olympic Committee, brought together 194 players from 30 countries. Lee defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan 3-2 in the final. In other last day’s actions,  KOR South Korean women won the doubles title after Shin Yubin and Jeon Ji Hee overcame Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 11-4 in the final. Japan finished at the top with eight medals, including four gold — women’s team, women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles — besides four bronze in women’s singles, men’s singles and women’s doubles. South Korea finished second with eight medals including 3 gold — men’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s teams. The Koreans also picked up four silver medals in men’s doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles and women’s teams, and one bronze in men’s singles. China Taipei took the third place with three medals, including two silver in men’s singles and men’s teams in addition to the bronze in women’s doubles. China Taipei was followed by Hong Kong four medals (1 silver in the women’s doubles and 3 bronze in the mixed doubles and women’s team).

QSA prepares to host the third round of FINA Swimming World Cup

DOHA-  The  Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) is preparing to host the 3rd round of the FINA Swimming World Cup, from October 21-23  at the  Hamad Aquatics Center in Doha. In a pre-event statement on Monday, Mr. Khalil Al Jaber, the President of QSA said that we are truly pleased to be an integral part of the  FINA Swimming World Cup for the tenth time on row. “  It’s our great pleasure to be a real partner of the  FINA , to  host another successful round here in Doha  despite the challenges of COVID-19”.  added QSA President. Most notably,  the QSA  has confirmed that  the  protocol approved by the Ministry of Public Health to curb the spread of  COVID-19 will remain in place that  to  keep all swimmers and their technical and managerial staff safe and secure. As per the final FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 calendar, announced recently, the first two legs will be contested in Berlin (GER) and Budapest (HUN) on October 1-3, and October 7-9, respectively, while Doha (QAT) and Kazan (RUS) will stage the two remaining legs on October 21-23 and October 28-30. All four stops of the 2021 World Cup will be competed in 25m-pools and are qualifying events for the postponed 15th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) to be held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from December 16-21, 2021..

Al-Mohannadi and Abdulwahab qualify for World Table Tennis Championships

Doha: Qatar's Ahmed Khalil Al-Mohannadi and Mohamed Abdulwahab qualified for men's doubles event at World Table Tennis Championships to be staged in Houston, USA next month. The Qatari duo made a big move up in ITTF ranking, driven by claiming the gold medal at Arab Table Tennis Championships in Jordan and their results at WTT Star Contender held in Doha last month. Moreover, Abdulwahhab created history when he defeated Indonesia's Fikri Faqih Fadilah in Round of 32 at the Asian Table Tennis Championships on Sunday. With the 3-1 (11-6, 11-1, 9-11, 11-5) win, Abdulwahhab became the first Qatari and Arab player to qualify for the Round of 16 stage of the continental event. Abdulwahhab, however, lost to India's Sharath Kamal Achanta 3-0 in his next match. On the other hand, the winner of the women’s singles title nine days earlier at the WTT Star Contender Doha tournament, on the early evening of Monday, October 04 at the 2021 ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships in Doha, Japan’s Hina Hayata repeated the feat. In the final match, Hayata defeated Korea Republic’s surprise finalist, Shin Yubin (7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4). Hayata also teamed up with Shunsuke Togami to beat Korea Republic’s Jang Woojin and Jeon Jihee (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9) to secure the mixed doubles title.

Khalil Al-Mohannadi elected President of Asian Table Tennis Union

DOHA - Currently Deputy President of the International Table Tennis Federation, a member of the recently formed World Table Tennis Board and President of the Qatar Table Tennis Association, Khalil Al-Mohannadi becomes the sixth President of the Asian Table Tennis Union. Notably, he will hold office in the golden jubilee year; it is now approaching 50 years since, on Sunday 7th May 1972, at a meeting in Beijing the organisation officially superseded the Table Tennis Federation of Asia. Khalil Al-Mohannadi follows in the footsteps of Japan’s Rizo Kawakami (1972-1974), Hisao Kido (1974-1976) and Atsushi Goto (1976-2001). They were succeeded by China’s Li Furong (2001-2009) and Cai Zhenhua (2009–2021). Furthermore, the election to the Presidency marks two decades of service to the Asian Table Tennis Union. Khalil Al Mohannadi was elected Deputy President in 2001, a position he held until 2003 and then reassumed in 2009, a role fulfilled until the present day. It is under his leadership that Qatar has become the focus of major international tournaments. The Qatar Open was first staged in 1994, after the second edition in 1996, one year later in 1997, the tournament joined what was then known as the ITTF Pro Tour, more recently the ITTF World Tour. Overall, concluding in 2020, a total of 22 editions were staged, Doha becoming the most popular destination of all. Additionally, thanks to the forward thinking of Khalil Al Mohannadi, Doha was the destination for the Asian Championships in 2000, the World Team Championships in 2004, as well as the ITTF Star Awards Evening and ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in 2016. More recently in September, Doha hosted the WTT Star Contender tournament and is the current home for the 2021 ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships. Alongside Khalil Al Mohannadi, the entire Executive Committee of the Asian Table Tennis Union was elected unopposed

Stage set for 2021 Qatar Classic

Doha: The Qatar Tennis Squash Badminton Federation (QTSBF) has signed a new partnership contract with QTerminals to sponsor Qatar Classic, PSA World Tour Platinum event, being organized by QTSBF with participation of the world’s top players. The press conference announcing this partnership was held on Sunday October 3rd at Doha Four Seasons Hotel.  In attendance were the QTSBF Secretary General Tariq Zainal and Neville Bissett - Group Chief Executive Officer of Q-Terminals. As per this new partnership, QTerminals will be the title sponsor of Qatar Classic, which has attracted the top players over the last several years. On this occasion, QTSBF Secretary General Tariq Zainal said: “It is my pleasure to announce that QTerminals is the title sponsors of Qatar Classic, PSA World Tour Platinum event.” “Qatar Classic has become one of the most important tennis tournaments in the region and through the cooperation with our partners, we hope our tournament can reach new levels of success and help promote Doha as a major destination for hosting international sporting events,” Zainal said while speaking at the press conference. Zainal also emphasized that this partnership reflects the commitment of the QTSBF and QTerminals to develop squash in the state of Qatar and supporting Qatar Classic, which is one of the most prominent squash events in the region and world, will help in a long way in promoting and grooming local talent. This year’s QTerminals Qatar Classic will take place from October 17-23 at Qatar Squash Federation and will be held as per the Ministry of Public Health guidelines informed Tariq Zainal. “All the health protocols as mandated by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) will be in place during the tournament and will be implemented,” added Tariq Zainal about the event which will see 48 of the world’s leading male players battling it out for the $187,500 prize fund. This year World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy, is the top seed of the tournament while British Open winner Paul Coll, is No.2 seed for the tournament, former World Champion Tarek Momen and Marwan, younger brother of Mohamed ElShorbagy are the other top players to watch out in the tournament. Three Qatari players will also be in action on home soil. Qatar’s No.1, Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi, along with two wild cards Syed Azlan Amjad and Ibrahim Ahmed Al Darwish, both wildcards will battle it out in the tournament.  

South Korea win Asian table tennis team title

Doha: South Korean men won the team title at the Asian Table Tennis Championships after defeating Chinese Taipei 3-1 at the Lusail Sports Hall yesterday. Jang Woojin was the star of the final for South Korea as he won both his matches against Chuang Chih-Yuan and Chen Chien-An.  Chuang Chih-Yuan beat Lee Sangsu to keep Chinese Taipei in the contest but An Jaehyun got past Feng Yi-Hsin to seal the title for Koreans. Earlier, South Korea had defeated India 3-0 in the semi-finals,while Chinese Taipei edged out Japan 3-2. Meanwhile, Qatar’s Fahd al-Mughni and Ahmed Muthana qualified for the men’s doubles round of 32 after defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Talgat Sagindikov and Akilbek Qasimov 3-1.