by Ian Marshall, Editor

Overall, 14 boys and nine girls plus five coaches attended, in addition to Tunisia, players and coaches travelled from Algeria and Egypt.

“The objective of the training camp was to further develop the hopes and cadet players within North Africa; they are identified as a core focus in the development plan to create a new generation of players.” Hisham Ismail

Each day a short awakener was held from 7.10 am to 7.30 am, followed by a training session from 8.45 am to 11:30 am; then a second session from 3.45 pm to 6.30 pm.

“In my schedule I focused on one main activity every single day, starting with evaluation step by playing games to determine the level of each player and what was needed to be improved. One day was allocated to improving serve and receive, another for footwork. On four days multi ball training was held to improve speed and control; also, physical training and match point exercises were also organized.” Hisham Ismail

Matters concluded with a very strong Challenge tournament. Egypt’s Yassine Yasser emerged the hopes boys’ singles winner finishing ahead of colleague Mohamed El-Sisy with Tunisia’s Wassim Essid and Mohamed Amine Khaloufi (Tunisia) in third and fourth places.

Likewise in the guise of Hajar Antar, it was top spot for Egypt in the cadet girls’ singles. She finished ahead of the Tunisia’s, Mariem Hamrouni, Farah Belkahia and Balkis Suissi.

Success for Egypt; in the cadet girls’ singles event, it was success for the hosts. Maram Zoghlami secured first place ahead of colleague Farah Mahjoub. Molka Riahi finished in fourth spot one place behind Egypt’s Hajer Antar

Thanks are extended to the Tunisian Table Tennis Federation and to all the coaches, players and officials for making the initiative an outstanding success.