18 Aug 2015
Amman, 18 August 2015. The 2015 ‘Arab Cup Championships’ in Amman, Jordan turned out to be a very successful event for four table tennis players of Aspire Academy: Mohammed Abdulhussein, who had just won his first ITTF World Junior Circuit Boys’ Singles title a week ago, affirmed his recent success by winning Gold in singles; while Abdulaziz Al-Abdalla and Nawaf Al Malki won Bronze in doubles.
“The taste of winning is indescribable and I am really proud of this achievement,” said the 16-year-old Mohammed Abdulhussein after defeating Ali Al Khadrawi from Saudi Arabia 4-1 in final of the Junior Boys’ Singles event. “This triumph was also the result of a good preparation that was carefully planned. For me, this is just the beginning of the road and I am already looking forward to further improve myself in order to get a better world ranking.”
One of the first people to congratulate him was Aspire Academy’s table tennis head coach Zlatko Novakovic. “It was not easy for him, because he did not have a long time to recover after the last tournament and the opponents here were even stronger. But he’s a fighter, mentally very strong and that made the difference in most of his matches. And thanks to his high-level performance in the final he is a deserved winner.”
While Mohammed Al Haddad also did well by reaching the quarter-finals in the Junior Boys’ Singles event, their younger teammates Abdulaziz Al-Abdalla and Nawaf Al Malki were able to bring home another medal by winning Bronze in the Cadet Boys’ doubles. “These good performances are also the result of the hard work the boys are putting in when they are preparing for these competitions. Especially Mohammed is a great example for others when it comes to showing a great attitude in training,” said Novakovic.