Rashid Abdul Hamid Omar saved the blushes for hosts UAE at the World Table Tennis Team Cup being held at Al Nasr Club in Dubai as they lost narrowly to Nigeria and Australia at Rashid bin Hamdan Hall on Wednesday.
The 22 year-old UAE star prevented a whitewash by winning five of his six matches to earn the plaudits of rival coaches and players. Omar’s impressive performance has earned him an invitation from two top clubs in South Korea for free.
Having won his opening match against Canada which UAE lost 3-1, Omar was in irrestible form against Nigeria and Australia who secured the tie by a 3-2 margin.
Omar came from behind to win a tense opener against Nigeria’s top player Quadri Aruna 7-11 6-11 12-10 11-3 11-6 and eased past Babatunde Olanrewaju Jegede 8-11 11-7 12-10 11-7 in the reverse singles. But the UAE doubles pairing of Jassem Mohammed Linjawi and Mohammed Al Bahar failed to win their matches though Al Bahar played remarkably to win the opening set against Aruna.
UAE’s tie against Australia was even more closely contested with the new doubles combination of Rashed Mohammed Hassan and Faisal Ahmad taking the rubber to the wire. Alex Swanson and Kiet Song Tran eventually prevailed in a thriller 8-11 6-11 11-5 12-10 12-10.
Omar won his singles matches easily against Tran 11-5 11-4 11-5 and Swanson 11-7 12-10 11-3. Ahmad won the first set 12-10 against Trent Carter who edged out Hassan 13-11 11-8 11-9 providing a thrilling climax to UAE’s campaign.
“We are lucky to have beaten them. The UAE team were very good,” said Nigeria’s coach Lateef Sumonla after the match.
“Rashid is a talented player and can go a long way. He has ability to beat anyone in the world,” said Sumonla on the UAE’s top player.
“The standard in this tournament was very high. We are here with the best players because we are going towards Commonwealth Games,” he added.
Nigeria went on to clinch the men’s Intercontinental Cup after defeating Australia 3-1 and Canada 3-0.
Congo Brazzaville claimed the women’s Intercontinental Cup with victories over Australia 3-0, United States 3-1 and Brazil 3-1.
Canada’s Chinese coach Yongjun Duan was also impressed by Omar. “Rashid is quite a really talented player. He has good forehand backhand and good all round game. He probably needs more international competition experience,” he said when asked how he raise his level.
“He has to play outside more international Pro Tour tournaments. Play different kinds of players to get experience,” he said.
Yongjun pointed out that Omar’s backhand defence was probably weak. “His attacking game good on both sides and top spin was very good,” he said.
UAE’s South Korean coach Park Ji lamented the fact that they did not have enough preparation time while all the players could not commit themselves fully even during the event.
“It was really difficult to have proper training because one player has to go to College, one player has to go to work. If I get much more opportunities I can make a much stronger team,” he said.
Linjawi had to attend College on the day of UAE’s first match against Canada and looked out of sorts while Rashed Mohammed had to work until Sunday before joining the team.
“I know it is very difficult to train like the China or South Korea teams. But if there is a big event, I hope to get a minimum of one month training with my players, from morning to evening,” said Park, a two-time medallist at the Asian Games.
The UAE coach admitted that they needed a strong second player to back up Omar if they hoped to win team competitions. “I was expecting one more point from the doubles or reverse singles but this did not happen,” said a disappointed Park who felt they should have beaten Australia.
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