09 Apr 2017
Riyadh, 9 April 2017. Aspire Academy graduate Abdulla Al-Tamimi narrowly missed out on retaining his men’s individual GCC gold medal at the 2017 Championships taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from April 5 to 8.
Al-Tamimi was beaten by Asian Games champion Abdullah Al-Muzayen of Kuwait in the final. Drawing level after trailing two games to love Abdulla looked close to pulling of an admirable comeback, increasing the pace and forcing Muzayen to make some uncharacteristic errors. The experienced Muzayen steadied however at the start of 5th and went on to take the deciding game and the title 11/9, 11/8, 3/11, 8/11, 11/5.
Qatar number 2 and Aspire Academy scholarship holder Syed Azlan Amjad unfortunately came up against his teammate Abdulla Al-Tamimi in the quarter finals. Azlan put in a solid performance and made it tough for Abdulla, managing to sneak the 3rd game before Abdulla went away in the 4th game to take the match 3 games to 1.
In the under 17 event Rashid Al-Harib performed the best of the junior group finishing in 5th place. Rashid played well in all of his matches during the week and has the advantage of being eligible for the same age category at next year’s championship.
Both men’s and under 17 teams took the silver medal in the 3 man teams event. Qatar had wins over Bahrain and Saudi Arabia however the Kuwaiti team won both ties against Qatar 2 matches to 1 to take the gold medal on the final day.