The World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Doha 2021 came to an exciting climax after a week of world-class table tennis action at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha Qatar.
Six out of 10 final spots were represented by different nationalities from Japan Chinese Taipei Korea Republic Argentina Germany and France with upsets and drama providing another compelling narrative for the global table tennis fans.
Japan’s Mima Ito underlined her growing stature in the sport when she clinched the women’s singles title whilst Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov ended a three-year title drought when he secured the men’s singles title at the inaugural WTT official event.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching also created history by becoming the first WTT mixed doubles champions while Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa and Miu Hirano as well as the Korean duo of Cho Daeseong and Lee Sangsu shot to glory with their women’s doubles and men’s doubles. victories respectively.
Despite seeing her run at the WTT Contender Doha end at the semi-final stage with her defeat to Ito Singapore’s Yu Mengyu was thankful to the event organisers for their efforts in staging a successful event.
“I’m grateful to WTT for giving us the opportunity to compete in such a wonderful atmosphere. I like the brand-new WTT identity and I’m looking forward to more WTT events ” said Yu.
Top seed Tomokazu Harimoto fell to Ovtcharov in their semi-final encounter where the German had earlier been cautioned for wiping his sweat on the table and blowing the balls in contravention of stringent COVID-19 protocols during his quarter-final clash with Sweden’s Mattias Falck.
Robust COVID-19 measures were implemented to ensure the public health and safety of everyone involved in the WTT Middle East Hub. Zero COVID-19 cases have been reported so far marking a significant step for the sport to get back on its feet amid the ongoing pandemic.
The WTT Middle East Hub continues on Monday 8th March with the WTT Star Contender boosted by a lucrative prize purse of US$400 000. It is set to chart another momentous occasion entertaining a global table tennis audience like never before again.
