KARACHI: Ping pong players and officials across the country on Saturday celebrated the World Table Tennis Day by organising activities with enthusiasm.

The biggest get-together of table tennis family was held at the Islamia Club’s Majeed Khan Gymnasium.

The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) president S. M. Sibtain threw light on the importance of the day.

“The PTTF has already launched hopes programme for the under-12 age group (boys and girls) which will yield fruitful results in the days to come, Sibtain told the gathering of former and present players..

Former South Asian Games gold medallist and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) course conductor Arif Khan gave a resume of the World Table Tennis Day.

Five-time former women’s national champion and ex-international Munira Fikriee cut the cake amidst applause.

Meanwhile, Usman Ahmed, Tayyaba Sulaiman and Mehdi Raza won the men’s, women’s and boys under-18 singles titles respectively.

Besides Sibtain, Munira and Arif Khan, the ceremony was attended among others by Vinoo Advani, Ruqaya Fikriee, Arif Nakhuda, Rubina Arif, Dr Farhan Essa, Shams-ul-Haq, Mohammad Tahir, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nakhuda, Irshad Mamsa, and Tauqir Mohajir.

Activities were also organised at the Sindh Sports Board (SSB) Sports Complex, Shah Wilayat Academy in the city besides the upcountry.

Final results:

Boys under-18 singles:

Mehdi Raza bt Furqan Patel 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-2.

Men’s singles:

Usman Ahmed bt Kamran Sarrang 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10.

Women’s singles:

Tayyaba Sulaiman bt Abeera Ali 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2016