Jeddah: The world’s top table tennis stars clash in the final rounds of the Saudi Smash tournament, taking place this year from May 1 to 11 here, at King Abdullah Sports City, the second leg of the year’s Grand Smash series.

On the second day of the finals, players battled it out in 41 matches across four categories: 16 men’s singles, four men’s doubles, 16 women’s singles, and five women’s doubles; of the 41 matches, 32 were in the round of 64 and nine in the round of 24.

The remaining matches will be played in the coming days to determine the champions.

Ali Alkhadrawi and Abdulaziz Bu Shulyabi emerged yesterday as the first Saudis to qualify for the round of 16.

Their straight-sets victory (3-0) over fellow Saudis Turki Almutairi and Khalid Alshareif sets them up for a match against China’s world number one, Wang Chuqin, and fellow Chinese sensation Ma Long, world number three.

Alkhadrawi, along with Hana Goda of Egypt, are set to compete in the mixed doubles category today, where they will face the sp
ort’s top seeds in the men and women division, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China.

Source: Saudi Press Agency