Abdul Hamid, Mohammad storm into GCC table tennis doubles final

Dubai: Rashid Abdul Hamid and Rashid Mohammad exhibited nerves of steel as they beat the Qatari pair of Ahmad Khalil and Nasser Abbad to storm into the men's doubles final at the 2009 GCC Table Tennis Championship held at Al Nasr Club.

While the seniors put in a lot of hard work to make their first GCC final, the junior pairing of Waleed Ahmad and Mohammad Mahmoud have a chance of adding to the team's bronze - which they won three days ago - when they face Saudi Arabia in the third-fourth place play-off.

Abdul Hamid and Mohammad were in dazzling form in the men's event and the Emiratis thrashed the Saudi pair of Osama Al Nahidi and Naif Al Jeeda 11-3, 11-7, 11-9, winning 3-0 in straight sets.

Qataris Khalil and Abbad, though, were never going to be pushovers but their UAE opponents mixed flair and caution superbly throughout the match to seal a memorable 3-2 win.

Abdul Hamid said that irrespective of whether the UAE had won or lost the tie, playing Qatar "was a lot of fun".

The Emiratis started well and won the first game 11-9. However, they lost focus and Qatar took full advantage of the position to make it one game each with a 11-6 victory in the second.

The lead changed hands for a second time when the UAE bounced back strongly to clinch the third game 11-4.

The hosts could have wrapped up victory in the fourth game but they squandered a 9-6 lead and Qatar made it two games apiece after winning the next five points on the trot.

Both sides matched each other point for point in the deciding fifth and final game. However, it was the UAE who saved two match points to win 13-11.

"There was too much stress, but it was a lot of fun. We made mistakes, atoned for them and are very happy with the result. Now we will have to be on top against Saudi," said Abdul Hamid, who plays for Al Nasr Club and is the No.2 seed player in the region.

The second semifinal was another tense affair with favourites, the Saudi pair of Abdul Aziz Al Abbar and Khalid Al Haribi, coming from behind to beat a tough Kuwait side in 3-2. The Juniors Doubles final will be contested by Qatar and Kuwait.

The Cadets once again failed to come up with the goods and went down easily with the pairings of Hamad Mohammad and Hussain Mohammad, and Nasr Mohammad and Saud Abdullah losing to teams from Bahrain and Saudi respectively.