27 Sep. 2015 – The Lebanese Table Tennis Delegation arrived in Pattaya, Thailand, for the Asian Table Tennis Championship also known for the 22nd ATTC Pattaya 2015.
The tournament started on the 26th of September and will end on the 3rd of October. 37 Asian countries are taking part in this championship, among them, the best countries in the world like China and Hong Kong. Only three non-Asian players are among the top 10 in the men’s ranking. For our Lebanese players, playing the Asian Championship is almost as challenging as the world championship!
Four players are representing our country: Avo MOUMJOGHLIAN, Mohamad HAMIYE, Joe SHALHOUB and Mohamed HABECH. They will also play the men’s doubles: Joe SHALHOUB and Mohamad HAMIYE will team up, while Avo MOUMJOGHLIAN and Mohamed HABECH will also join forces for the team events.
We should note that Rachid AL BOULBOUL’s name figured on the entry list but didn’t join the team for the Championship due to passport issues. Unfortunately, our team is only formed by men, no women are participating in this championship.
On the first day, they didn’t start well the team events. The were in a group with KSA, Indonesia and Iran. In their first games, they faces KSA: Avo played against Abdlaziz AL ABBA and lost 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-3. HAMIYE then faced Ali ALKHADRAWI and lost in 3-1: 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 11-5. Finally, Joe was defeated by Naif AL JADAI in 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.
In their second game, they faced Indonesia.They lost in 3-0, but the three matches ended in 3-1: Joe CHALHOUB faced Giland MAULANA: 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, a very close match. Mohamad HABECH faced Ficky SANTOSO: 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-5. And finally Moahamd HAMIE faced Donny AJI: 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7.
In the last game against Iran, the winning team, Mohamad HAMIYE faced Noshad ALAMIYAN and lost in 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9) a very close match! Avo faced Nima ALAMIAN and lost in 3-0 (11-7, 11-3 and 11-7). Finally, Mohamad HABECH was defeated by Afshin NOROOZI in 3-2! A very tough game that ended in 5 sets: 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-1, 11-4.
Today, on the second day of this championship, they started really good by winning over Afghanistan in 3-0! Joe CHALHOUB faced Abdul JAMI and won in three sets to zero (11-3, 11-4 and 11-7). Mohamad HAMIE then played against Hussain MOHAMMADIAN and defeated him in 3-0 again (11-5, 11-5 and 11-9). Finally, Avo MOUMJOGHLIAN defeated Hujatullah MUSHFIQ in three sets (11-2, 11-6 and 12-10). They will be facing next one of the two teams: Turkmenistan or Nepal!
The team event isn’t done yet! We will keep you updated! The men’s singles and doubles will start right after the team events are done! Stay tuned!
Good luck for our Lebanese players!
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