20 Mar 2023
Seven Aspire Academy student-athletes travelled to Iraq to compete in events held in the city of Sulaymaniyah.
Six of them took part in both the 27th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships Qualifying Tournament (West Asia) and World Table Tennis Youth Contender event.
At the first tournament, from 13 to 15, March two teams of Aspire Academy student-athletes helped Qatar’s under-15 and under-19 teams to qualify for the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships.
They both reached the finals as they emerged overall winners of the 27th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships Qualifying Tournament (West Asia).
In the under-19 category despite having two under-17 players the Qatar team of Rawad Alnaser (15), Sultan Al-Kuwari (14) and Abdullah Abdulwahab (18) beat two of the pre-event favourites Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals and then Iraq in the final.
Sultan Al Kuwari was also part of the victorious under-15 team alongside Ahmed Korani (14), Yousif Abdulla (13) and Mohammed Al-Sulaiti (13).
The teams can now look forward to returning to Iraq to compete at the Asian Youth Championships between 13-18 July.
All seven of the student athletes who travelled to Iraq then competed in the World Table Tennis Youth Contender tournament which ran from 13 to 19 March.
The best result came from Ahmed Korani as he reached the semi-finals of the Boys Under-15’s Singles where he lost 3-2 to eventual winner of Benyamin Faraji of Iran.
He also competed in the Boys Under-17’s Singles and reached the last 16 in that category before losing 3-2 to Sweden’s Olle Haan Stahl.
Abdulaziz Al Abdulla (12) failed to get past the group stages in the Boys Under-13 Singles but did progress in the under-15’s before losing in the last 32.
Mohammed Al-Sulaiti also competed in both the under-13 and under-15 categories reaching the quarter-finals and round of 16 respectively.
As well as Ahmad Korani two other Aspire Academy student-athletes competed in both the under-15 and under-17 categories.
Rawad Alnaser lost in the last 32 of the under-15’s and then in the quarter-finals of the under-17’s, while Sultan Al-Kuwari reached the quarter-finals and last 32 respectively.
Yousif Abdulla despite only being 13 years old progressed from his group in the under-17’s before losing the last 32.
In the under-19 category Abdullah Abdulwahab narrowly lost both of his group games 3-2 and unfortunately failed to progress to the knockout phase.