The first edition of World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East Hub, which is organized by Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) in cooperation with WTT, kicked off at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall on Sunday, with the participation of the world's leading stars.

The WTT Middle East Hub, which will continue until March 13, 2021, is held in a health bubble system, where strict precautionary measures will be applied to limit the spread of the COVID-19 and ensure the safety of all participants in the event.

Today's preliminary round matches of the championship were strong, where matches between men's and women's singles and mixed doubles were held during the morning and evening sessions.

In the men's singles, the Qatari national team players Ahmed Khalil Al Mohannadi, Ahmed Muthanna and Mohamed Abdel Wahab fought played and difficult matches in which Canadian Jeremy Hazen won over Ahmed Khalil Al Mohannadi 3-0, and Ahmed Muthanna lost to Chinese Taipei player Cheng Ting Liao 3-0, and Belgian Florent Lambiet beat Mohamed Abdel Wahab 3-1.

Algerian Arabi Boriyah also lost to the Russian Alexander Shibayev 3-0, while Egyptian Omar Asr lost to German Walter Ricardo 3-0, and Belarusian Pavel Platonov defeated Egyptian Mohammed Al-Bili 3-0, and Saudi Ali Al Khadrawi lost to Russian Vladimir Sidorin 3-2, and Abdulaziz Bushlibi also lost to Singapore's Xiao Zio Clarence 3-0.

In the women's singles, Russian Olga Vorobeva defeated Mexican Yadira Silva 3-1, and Korean Kim Haoyoung beat the Slovak Tatiana 3-1.

German Chantal Mantz edged past Slovakian Ema Labosova 3-0 to meet Singaporean Yu Mengyu in the second preliminary round tomorrow.

Egyptian player Hana Goda lost to Belgian Lisa Leung 3-2.

Meanwhile, Qatari and Iranian table tennis associations signed a cooperation agreement on the sidelines of the event. The agreement was signed by President of the Qatar Table Tennis Association Khalil Al Mohannadi and President of the Iranian Table Tennis Association Mehrdad Ali Qardashi.

Al Mohannadi stressed that this agreement includes many points and will benefit table tennis in Qatar and Iran.

For his part, the President of the Iranian federation expressed his happiness at the signing of the cooperation agreement with the Qatar Table Tennis Association, while praising the Lusail Multipurpose Hall, which is currently hosting the tournament, and its advanced sports facilities. (QNA)