Dubai hosting Table Tennis Pro Tour UAE Open
Dubai is hosting the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) Pro Tour UAE Open from the 15th to 19th February, 2011. The United Arab Emirates Table Tennis Association (UAE TTA) is organising the event to compensate for the suspension of the Salwa
Cup Kuwait Open.
The tournament was suspended after the Kuwait National Olympic Committee was suspended by the International Olympic Association in 2010.
This will be the first ITTF Pro Tour to be held in Dubai. Earlier, the UAE World Team Cup Classic was held in Dubai in 2010. The event will held at the Al-Shahab Sports Club in the heart of Dubai. The UAE TTF has invited eight international umpires from
across the world for the tournament.
This will be the forth ITTF Pro tour event of this year. So far, players from the People’s Republic of China have claimed victories on most titles. Surprisingly, all the Chinese players who won medals at the Beijing Olympics 2008 have failed to make it to
the list of top players in the ITTF Pro Tours.
Chen Qi won the men’s singles event at the English Open, Chen was not seen in the Qatar and Slovenian Open, but has signed up for the UAE Open.
Xu Xin has won two titles of three tournaments; one at the English Open and a recent one in Qatar. From the results of pro tours so far, there could new faces from China in the 2012 Olympics in England.
In the men’s under-21 event, Qatar Open winner Alexander, runner up Niwa Koki and Slovenian Cup winner Korean Kim Min Seok will be seen in action at the tournament.
In the men’s doubles Xu Xin, Wang Liqin, MA Long, Ma Lin, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao from China will be featuring in the doubles, Xu and Wang will be pairing again in the event. Spectators will be looking to see them winning the title again. Ma Lin is pairing
with Zhang, Ma Long and Wang will be seen together. The Qatar Open winning duo will face tough challenge from the other two Chinese pairs.
In the women’s event, all the leading names from the previous three tournaments will be seen in action. English Open winner Ding Ning and Qatar Open winner Liu Shiwen will be defending their titles. In U-21, Ishikawa Kasumi of Japan and Kang Mi Soon of Korea
will be fighting for the title whereas Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia will attempt to win the doubles title for the third time this year. Yue also won the doubles title in the English Open with Guo Yan.
The tournament starting today will be of great importance for the Dubai spectators as it will open new horizons for the table tennis associations and players in the region.
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