MUSCAT: The world’s table tennis stars will start arriving in Oman’s capital, Muscat to compete in the upcoming 2022 Oman International Table Tennis Championship which will be held from Sunday, February 27 to March 5 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.

The tournament is organised by the Oman Table Tennis Association in cooperation with the International Table Tennis Federation and the World Table Tennis Foundation. Over 200 male and female players, in addition to members of the technical and arbitration staff representing 40 countries from different countries of the world will be participating in this competition.

Sajjad bin Muhammad bin Baqer, Vice President and General Supervisor of the tournament, explained that the tournament will include five categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

 A number of Oman’s national table tennis team players including the player Muhannad Al Balushi, the runner-up for the current year’s Singles Championship, and the players Mishaal Al Shehhi, Ahmed Al Riyami and Badr Al Jassasi will also be participating in this tournament.

All the players have undergone an intensive training program under the supervision of Iranian coach Omid Shams Shahrbabki, who was keen to set up camps and daily training sessions for the players.
 
Abdullah bin Muhammad Bamakhalaf, President of the Oman Table Tennis Association, Chairman of the tournament’s organising committee said, “We have been preparing early to host this great sporting event in Muscat, and today we are in the final stages of the preparations to receive players from different countries of the world.”

He also explained that the tournament aims to achieve a set of goals amongst which are revitalising the economic aspects as well as strengthening the country’s tourism and promotional sector.