Ahmed shines as Al Sadd overcome Al Rayyan 4-3

DOHA (Qatar): Qatar international Ahmed Muthanna turned out to be the star as Al Sadd overcame Al Rayyan 4-3 in the second round of 2020-21 Qatar Table Tennis Championship here on Wednesday.

Ahmed clinched the crucial fifth game against Khalifa Nasser 11-2, 10-12, 11-4, 5-11 and 11-4) after both the teams were levelled 3-3.

Rayyan never looked like throwing the towel as Fahad Moughni and Khalifa fought bravely to win the doubles against Ahmed and international Chen.

Fahad's experience counted a lot at crucial junctures when it seemed the game to go Sadd's way.

Chen, however, came back strongly in the return singles against compatriot Li Cheng. Despite some earlier hiccups, the Sadd player was in his elements and romped home.

Eventually, he won 15-13, 11-9, 6-11 and 11-7.

Fahad was strong enough to out space Waleed and kept Rayyan in the match by winning 4-11, 11-7, 11-9 and 11-6.

Sadd had opened their campaign with a win over Al Khor in the first round 4-0 while this was Rayyan's first defeat after winning 4-0 against Al Shamal on Tuesday.

The competition, which got under way on Tuesday, is being held at the Qatar Table Tennis Association Training Center Hall at Ras Abu Abboud amid the implementation of precautionary measures in coordination with the Ministry of Health to limit the spread of Covid 19.

The tournament will resume on Monday (January 18) with the third round matches while the fourth round will be on January 19.

The first stage consists of ninth round matches that will end on February 1.

Al Arabi win second successive matches

In other matches, Al Arabi club won their successive wins by defeating Al Wakrah 4-0 after their first round victory against Al Gharafa (4-1).

This was Wakrah's second defeat in as many matches after going down to Al Ahli 2-4.

Arabi surged ahead thanks to German Schmidt who overcame Lee Jang Son. Zahn Ming extended the lead after he beat Ali Hamza 3-0 while Muhammad Khamis Al Sulaiti beat Hamza Ismail 3-1.

Schmith and Zhan Ming teamed up to wrap up the doubles as Wakrah found it difficult to soak up the pressure.