EGYPT has become the latest entry in this year’s Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open, an ITTF Junior Circuit premium table tennis tournament, starting on Sunday at Isa Sports City Gym in Riffa.
Bahrain Table Tennis Association (BTTA), the tournament organisers, have received a letter from their Egyptian counterparts confirming their participation in the five-day international event that will be held in Bahrain for the sixth consecutive time.
The Egyptian Table Tennis Federation, under its president Adel Abu Al Nasser, will be sending several world-class players to Bahrain, which promises to add more excitement to the championship.
Players with exceptional talents like Omar Badair, Abdulrahman Mohammed, Shadi Majdi and Bassil Ala’al were named by their federation to spearhead Egypt in the Bahrain event.
Other junior players to play in Bahrain are Ali Ghallab, Omar Jamal, Ziyad Wael, Dina Mushref, Alya Dua, Yusra Ashraf, Ala’a Saad, Salma Khalid, Reem Murad and Rana Al Shubri.
The inclusion of Egypt raised the number of participating countries to 11, to be represented by more than 100 players who will compete over five days.
Other players will come from France, Chinese Taipei, Sweden, Singapore, Jordan, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
BTTA president Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, meanwhile, visited the tournament venue and witnessed part of the Bahrain players’ training.
The Bahrain team, being coached by Croatian tactician Boris Banicek, feature 10 players competing in all three divisions.
They include cadets Saud Al Qasmi, Hussain Al Ajmi, Hussain Murtada and Rashid Sanad.
Yousef Al Buflasa, Elyas Elyasi, Mahmood Habib and Loay Jamal will play in the junior event, while Nadeen Abu Ajmiya and Fayrooz Kailani are in the fray for the junior girls section.
Shaikha Hayat urged the young players to put in their best during the coming championship, which features some of the world’s best rising table tennis players, and wished them success.
She also thanked the companies which have stepped forward to support the tournament, with the most recent one being the Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company (BKIC).
Shaikha Hayat said the association is looking to make successfully partnership with the BKIC to support the association’s different sports activities.
There will be competitions in singles, doubles and team events in the junior and cadet age group categories this year.
The BTTA offers a total prize fund of $13,300 for the winners in all competitions, with the boys and girls junior singles and doubles champions receiving $1,200 each.
Winners in the boys and girls junior teams get $500 each, boys and girls cadet teams will have $600 each, while boys and girls cadet singles will each collect $400.
The organising committee has appointed its umpires for the tournament, headed by international umpire Essam Al Faqir of Jordan.
Other umpires are Bahraini Sayed Bashir Al Alawi and Abdulla Bujaham of Algeria.