by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Both outfits accounted for the Libyan Arab Republic trio of Jad Hariz, Ramadan Alzarebi and Musab Twair by three matches to nil.
Likewise, the combination of Rashad Sanad, Omar Ammous and Mootezz Sadaoui recorded a three-nil win against Egypt’s Khaled Khader and Mahmoud Helmy who lined up alongside Tunisia’s Atef Ben Salah.
Slightly more testing
However, when facing the latter outfit, there was a hiccup for the trio of Tobias Hippler, Mohammed Abdulwahhab and Abdulaziz Mohd.
Atef Ben Salah accounted for Abdulaziz Mohd in the third match of the encounter (2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8) but that was to be his team’s only success.
Tobias Hippler overcame both Mahmoud Helmy (11-4, 11-3, 11-7) and Khaled Khader (11-6, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6); after in the opening match of the fixture, Mohammed Abdulwahhab had also defeated Khaled Khader (11-9, 11=3, 9-11, 11-7).
Tobias Hippler, Mohammed Abdulwahhab and Abdulaziz Mohd now meet Rashad Sanad, Omar Ammous and Mootezz Sadaoui to decide the title.
Egypt prominent
Success for the leading outfits on the opening day of play in the Junior Boys’ Team event; it was the same in the Cadet Boys’ Team competition where there were five groups in the initial phase.
Notably Egypt was very much to the fore.
Represented by Ammar Attia, Ahmed Elborhamy and Omar El-Safty, Egypt ‘A’ secured first place in their group did Egypt ‘B’ who fielded the duo of Adham Abdelaal Abdelrahman Dendan. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Egypt ‘C’ with Karim Zarad and Ziad El-Shawa in action also finished the day unbeaten and in pole position.
Top Places
Top places for Egypt; it was the same for Tunisia ‘A’ and Qatar. Youssef Ben Attia and Aboubaker Bourass formed the Tunisian combination, for Qatar it was Nawaf Al-Malki and Abdulaziz Al-Abdulla.
Proceedings in the Junior Boys’ Team and Cadet Boys’ Team event conclude on Thursday 1st September.
