by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Simply, Yuma Tsuboi held the aces; at 8-6 ahead in the second game, Zeyad Aldmaisy had an opportunity but the highly structured systematic training background from which Yuma Tsuboi had learned his skills told.

He was able to press the accelerator and smoothly move through the gears to secure victory.

“I practise three times a week, I need more training but I have held from the International Table Tennis Federation; I was able to go and practise in Sweden”, Zeyad Aldmaisy.

Playing in Sweden undoubtedly helped and in his own environment, Zeyad Aldmaisy is one of the leading players. En route to winning the Under 21 Men’s Singles title at the 2015 Arab Championships, he beat Tunisia’s Adem Hmam at the quarter-final stage before overcoming the Bahrain duo of Ilyas Ilyassi and Mohamed Abbas to claim the title.

In Doha, he was all alone, there was no coach sitting courtside. However, seated in the tiered seating was his father, Aziz Hashem; himself a member of the Jordan national team for some 20 years.

“He was two points ahead in the second game but he did not believe he could win, he did not believe that he could beat a player from Japan; we are in West Asia, I think he has a chance to qualify for the Olympic  Games but to do that he needs more intensive training. Today I am pleased how he played, I think he played well”,   Aziz Hashem

Certainly, there were moments when Zeyad Aldmaisy impressed but in the crucial area of table tennis, serve, receive, first attack; there was a gulf.

“Returning his services, reading his services; that was very difficult”, Zeyad Almaisy

Defeat but there was sufficient evidence to suggest that in the right environment that he could follow in the footsteps of the Jordanian who became a princess; Zeina Shaban competed in the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.