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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The big smash
By Abeer AnwarEgypt, the defending champions, plays host to the 11th Arab Clubs Winners Championship in table tennis with a good shot at winning both the men's and women's events.
Both Ahli and Zamalek qualified for the semi-finals. Ahli beat Algeria's Jet Ozo and Yemen's Ahli by identical 3-0 scores and edged Saudi Arabia's namesake club, Ahli, 3-2. Zamalek smashed the Emirates' Ahli and Kuwait's Jahraa 3-0.
In the opening match, the title holders, who brushed aside the competition in Jordan the last time the championship was held, swept by Qatar's Al-Arabi 3-0. Although Al-Arabi's professional Korean player, Lee Sang, took the first set from Sherif Diaa, Diaa's experience won the day at the match 2-1. Teammate Sherif El-Saket followed in Diaa's footsteps, beating Qatar's Mohamed Hassan 2-0 while Amr Reda put the icing on the cake by downing Laith Hani 2-0. Despite the easy task Ahli obviously had in its first match, coach Ahmed El-Dawalti nevertheless breathed a sigh of relief. "I am very happy with the result," El-Dawalti said. "In opening matches, players are always tense. Winning the first match gives them a great push." In other games, Zamalek repeated the scenario, beating Lebanon's Saida 3-0 in a one-sided encounter. Kuwait's Jahraa blanked Emirates Ahli 3-0 and Saudi Arabia's Ahli beat Algeria's Jet Ozo by the same result. Jordan's Gezira had a relatively harder time, getting by Yemen's Ahli 2-1.
Ten teams divided into two groups are participating in the men's event. The teams will play a round-robin format after which the first and second place winners will qualify for the semi-finals. As for the women, they, too, will play a round-robin tournament but in only one group that includes Egypt's Gezira and Ahli, Lebanon's Hofman, Jordan's Hussein, Syria's Shorta and Algeria's Bouzraa. Like their male counterparts, Ahli and Gezira women qualified for the semi-finals. Ahli beat Gezira 3-1, Bouzraa 3-0, Jordan's Hussein 3-1 and Syria's Shorta 3-0. Gezira beat Hussein 3-2 and both Hofman and Bouzraa 3-0.
The International Table Tennis Federation agreed that the champion will be allowed a place in the World Cup for clubs, a first ever tournament, to take place in China in May 2000.
A day before the event, Ahli lodged an official complaint, claiming that only one professional player could be on the roster of any team. The championship's organising committee agreed to Ahli's demand. The protest was only natural since, unlike all the other squads, no professional plays on any of the Egyptian clubs.
Sherif El-Saket, Sherif Diaa, Amr Reda, Mahmoud Ibrahim, Yasser Gouda, Gihan El-Sayed, Bassant Othman, Wessam Abdel-Fattah and Nevine Hafez are representing Ahli. Ashraf Helmi, Ashraf Sobhi, Ahmed Saleh, Emad Meselhi, Ahmed Mekheimer are wearing Zamalek's white and red jersey. Zamalek is not taking part in the women's event after most of the club's star females retired. Gezira, on the other hand, is entering only the women's events with Shahira El-Alfi, Hanan Sedki and Mona Seif.
Indoor Hall No 2 at Cairo Stadium will be busy up until 30 October as the weeklong matches are played mornings and evenings.
