01 Sep 2016

Play organised on a group basis with four outfits in action; at the end of the opening day of play, Wednesday 31st August, in the Junior Boys’ Team events at the Sopal 2016 Tunisia Junior and Cadet Open, it was very much the predicted outcome.

The combination of Germany’s Tobias Hippler in partnership with the Qatari duo of Mohammed Abdulwahhab and Abdulaziz Mohd remained unbeaten, as did the combination formed by Bahrain’s Rashad Sansad who joined forces with the host nation’s Omar Ammous and Mootezz Sadaoui.

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.

World Junior Circuit Tunisia Junior and Cadet Open Tobias Hippler Omar Ammous Mohammed Abdulwahhab abdulaziz Mohd Rashad Sanad Mootezz Sadaoui