DOHA: Al Sadd coach Terenc Fischer has promised that his team will give their best when they face Eljaish in the Table Tennis Emir Cup final today, despite admitting his team are not the favourites to win the title.
Al Sadd booked a place after beating Al Arabi 3-2 in the semi-finals, while Eljaish made history after reaching the Emir Cup final for the first time with a 3-1 win over Qatar Sports Club.
“We are not the favourites for the final but we will give a good account of ourselves. I hope we will fight hard with this team. We had a good semi-final result and we will try our best to what we can do,” said Fischer during the pre-match press conference yesterday.
He added: “I’m sure there will be a good atmosphere and I hope that we can make the table tennis match final enjoyable for the spectators. And I promise that my team will be fighting hard to beat Eljaish and win the title.”
With a hard-fought 3-2 victory in the semi-finals on Friday, Al Sadd can count on China’s Jin, as well as Ahmad Muthana, Abdrahman Najjar, Jacim Al Sanedi and Waled Nasser, in trying to clinch the top prize. Fischer’s men will have to stop three-time former world champion Wang Li Qin of China, who will be showcasing his talent for Eljaish.
The 34-year-old, who won gold medal in the doubles category event at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, will be joined by his Qatar team-mates Ahmed Khaleel, Nasser Al Mohannadi and Ahmed Nasser Alah.
Eljaish coach Yan Hong Jun hopes his players can perform to the best of their abilities today. Jun said: “We have some very good players such as Wang Li Qin, a former world champion player and Nasser Al Mohannadi. We have a very good group of players for the final game tomorrow and we hope we can show our best match for everybody.”
The winning team will go home QR130,000 richer, while the runner-up will pick up a cheque of QR90,000.
Ali Sultan Al Mufath, Deputy Secretary General of Qatar Table Tennis Association has called for the public to attend the final, in which spectators can win prizes.
Today’s final begins at 6.30pm at Qatar Sports Club.
THE PENINSULA
