Bahraini women's table tennis team trains in Romania

The Bahrain women’s table tennis team have approached the end of their training camp in Romania ahead of the Third GCC Women’s Games, set to take place on home soil from March 3 to 13. Bahrain, seeking the gold medal of the Games, travelled to Bucharest on February 9 along with their new Serbian tactician ‘Mishi’, Bahrain Table Tennis Association member Salman Yousf and administrator Wafa Al Jazzaf. Officials at the BTTA, headed by president Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, will rely on team captain and ace Maryam Al Qassmi to pull off another victory for Bahrain table tennis this year. Al Qassmi, the GCC champion, will head into the tournament along with the quartet Bahrainis – Kaltham Elyasi, Fatma Al Haiki and Nadine Adel. Besides the host country, the table tennis champions will feature senior players from Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the UAE, who hosted the previous edition in 2010. BTTA general secretary Nasser Kawaz said the organizing committee has finalized all arrangements prior to the start of the Games. Kawaz, the table tennis Chief Executive of the Games, said that Ebrahim Siyadi was appointed director of table tennis competition, while members of the other committees, including transportation and stadiums have been approved. He added that the organising committee of this competition has specified its technical and administrative needs, and started processing all required issues related to the table tennis championship. Kawaz lauded the efforts of the Bahrain Olympic Committee and its president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the facilities provided and the challenges they overcame. Meanwhile, the Bahraini girls resumed training for the volleyball competition. Speaheading the home team at the Games will be a combination of promising and experiences volleyball players. Abduljalil Al Aradi, the national tactician of the Bahrain team, named his final 12-member squad, led by Hajer Al Ansari. Also spearheading the team are Marwa Shamsan, Nawal Faisal, Ghada Marhoon, Hessa Al Zayani, Najla Turab, Dana Al Isa, Maryam Al Sulaiti, Mona Abdulla, Farah Juma, Fayza Sayyar, Amina Al Dossary. Al Aradi said the team had a very useful training camp in Cairo recently, will play a friendly match today against a combined team from different national sports clubs. The girls, who recently played played three friendlies against A’ali, Busaiteen and Al Ahli, will have a short training camp right after today’s friendly to sum up their previously set up programme. In bowling, Noora Sultan will lead Bahrain’s bid in the singles, doubles and team events. The 2010 Games singles gold medal holder will be joined by compatriots Fatma Isa and Layla Janahi. Bowling tournament director Ahmed Al Nuaimi said a fourth and final team member is yet to be selected from three players, namely Noora Janahi, Iman Aqeel and Yasmine Aqeel. Al Nuaimi said 99 per cent of the equipment have been prepared at Ozone Entertainment Centre, the main venue for the bowling competition. Kuwait, Oman and the UAE are the other teams in the fray. From BNA