JEDDAH, 7 May 2004 — The Singles Championship of 3rd LG Table Tennis Tournament is now in its crucial stages. Its 3rd and 4th rounds and quarter, semi finals and final will be played at Alhamra Sofitel Hotel today.
Arab News and Al-Eqtisadiah are supporting the tournament as part of their effort to promote sports.
Several interesting matches in the first two rounds of Singles Championship were witnessed by table tennis enthusiasts since its opening on April 23.
One of the most thrilling encounters of last Friday was between Emad Farag of Alhamra Sofitel Hotel and Nadeem Ismail of Abdul Wahid Co. Emad had to struggle to beat Nadeem 3-2.
Emad is considered to be one of the best players of the hotel and has represented his team in all three annual LG Table Tennis tournaments so far.
In another exciting match, Munawar Baig of Sarawat Superstores won against Syed Ghaus of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Co. Munawar Baig lost first two sets but regained control over the game to ultimately register a 3-2 win against Syed Ghaus in the last three sets.
Most of the matches were won in straight three sets. The only exception was the match between Dr. Asfar Ehtesham of MedNet Gulf and Mustafa Noor of Pakistan International School reached four sets, which was won by Asfar by 3-1. Abdul Karim of Royal & Sun Alliance defeated Najeem Saleh of Thamer International School 3-1.
Carlos Mangubut of Makkaf Safa Water Co. beat Jaber Abu Al-Basil of Riyadh House Est. 3-1. Faheem Khan of Juffali Printing Systems won against Murtaza of Bajaba Electronics 3-1 and Haytham Atayar had an easy win over Aiman Siddiqui of Pakistan School 3-1.
In another match played between Talat Mirza of Saudi Electric Co. and Glenn Quitoriano of Jeddah Graphic Center, Talat played some tremendous shots and exhibited the class of his forehand and backhand strokes to win 3-1.
Doubles matches will begin next Friday.
