JEDDAH, 7 March 2003 — The high-profile LG Table Tennis Tournament is nearing its completion as it has reached the quarterfinal stage. The tournament is being played at Al-Hamra Sofitel Hotel every Friday.
Last Friday, the participating teams completed the preliminary rounds of the doubles event. The Doubles Championship final will be held today. The main contestants for the doubles trophy are Juffali Printing, Tokyo Marine, Ba-Jaba Electronics, DHL, IAP, Al-Suwaidi and FUCHS.
DHL was pitched against Riyadh House and the former won 2-1. Gamini and Asif of DHL played with perfection and high speed. And their fireworks paid them winning results despite losing the first set to Riyadh House.
Le-Jeddah Meridien Hotel played against Al-Hamrani FUCHS and won two games against one. Rick and Kamil of Meridien played some good defensive strokes before making some bold moves. They went on the offensive and played decisively.
SNAS Trading versus Freshers was an interesting match up. Freshers won with overall score of two games against one. Al-Hamra Sofitel played against VIP Travel Club but lost after a tough fight. Dr. Rehan Khan and Rushdi Sherwani came prepared and played excellent strokes. Rehan Khan demonstrated a change in strategy and made unexpected moves by changing service positions and styles. Rushdi kept smiling throughout the match which ended at two games won by VIP against the loss of one.
The best set of games was played between Tokyo Marine and International Airports Projects, in which IAP prevailed by a minor margin and won the match with a score of 2-1. Shah Alam and Absar Hussein of IAP, though in their middle ages, played with speed and technique against Atif and Rauf of Tokyo Marine.
The last game was very tough and an extra five points had to be played in order to render a winner.
Juffali Printing was applauded as the favorite for the Doubles final. Asadullah Ghalib and Riaz Jumah of Juffali Printing were the dominant players and made their mark against every rival. Asadullah Ghalib is also the President of Jeddah Table Tennis League and is a consultant for this Tournament.
Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the Doubles Trophy will be played today. On the same day singles event will also be played. Quarterfinal qualifiers are Al-Suwaidi Industries from Rabigh, IAP, DHL, Ba-Jaba Electronics, Tokyo Marine, FUCHS Petroleum and Juffali Printing Systems team one and two. H. K. Seo, general manager, LG Electronics, expressed his satisfaction on the progress of this tournament. He said: “I am anxiously waiting to shake hands with the winners of this tournament.”
