JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Saudi Arabia came 3rd in the recent 13th Gulf Championship for table tennis, which took place in Qatar. The Qatari team placed first with 33 points followed by Kuwait in the second position with 30 points. The Saudi collected 28 points for third place with UAE fourth with 16 and Bahrain fifth and last with 16 points.

Al-Shehan Transfer

JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Saudi international Abdullah Al-Shehan is to negotiate terms of his contract with a second division team in Qatar today. Al-Shehan, formerly with Al-Shabab and Al-Riyadh, is to meet with Almeraikya club officials in a special meeting and, should there be no hitch in the negotiations, sign the contract. The club expressed their interest to acquire Al-Shehan from Riyadh to take the place of former Ahli club striker Talal Al-Mishal who signed with the club and later transferred to the Jeddah-based team Ittihad.

Ahli Eyeing Hilal Winger Elyas

JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Al-Ahli club expressed interest in recruiting left winger Yaser Elyas from Al-Hilal for this season, a source told Arab News. The source said the player sent feelers about his interest to play with Ahli club. The same source said that the team would terminate the contract of the two Brazilian players Rodrigo and Nunez if they continued to play poorly with the club. Ahli club defender Khaled Badra already provided the management with names of Tunisian players that could be tapped for the next season.

Abdul Ghani Off to Yemen

JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Ahli club captain Hussein Abdul Ghani will fly to Yemen to participate in the farewell match of Yemen national team and Al-Telal team captain Sharaf Mahfouz. Al-Telal will face El Terasanah of Egypt next Sunday. The organizers of the farewell match contacted the Ahli club management to allow Abdul Ghani to participate in the match. Ahli club approved the request since their football team took a breather and the next match is more than 15 days away.

Al-Balawi Expected Back in Jeddah Soon

JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Ittihad club president Mansour Al-Balawi is expected back in Jeddah next week from his annual vacation in Paris to attend the general meeting in which he is expected to win a fresh four-year term at the helm of the club. The next general meeting for Ittihad will be held after 10 days.

Computer Hackers

JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — The personal website of former Ittihad striker and national team player, Hamza Idrees, who decided to end his career with Ittihad last season, was hacked by a group of hackers changing the interface of the webpage. The attack on the team’s website is becoming rampant in Saudi Arabia with fans of certain clubs attacking the personal website of rival teams. This was not the first attack as the website of Ahli club team captain Hussein Abdul Ghani was hacked by a group of hackers that threatened to continue hacking the website until the player changes his behavior. The website of Ittihad skipper Muhammad Nur was also hacked by hackers calling themselves the Hail Group. Many clubs are now trying to change the server of their website to prevent hacking.