MANAMA - Egypt are progressing well in table tennis, a senior Olympic Games official said in the Bahraini capitl on Saturday night. "Egyptian player Omar Asar was ranked the world's best under 21 player last month," added Moataz Ashour, the Treasurer of the Egyptian Olympic Committee. He was speaking to The Egyptian Gazette as the Egyptian men's team were being presented with the cup for winning the 22nd Arab Championship for Table Tennis, hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain. The four teams representing Egypt in the event won three gold medals in the men's, under 18 females' and under 15 females' categories, as well as a silver medal in the under 18 males' category. Ashour, the head of the Egyptian delegation participating in Bahrain, said Egypt only won silver not gold in the under 18 males' category, because certain key players were absent, including Amr Bedeer, who is currently competing in a Olympic tennis championship in Singapore, and another player who's sitting some exams. He added that Asar was also absent from the Arab Championship as he was in a training camp in China. "Egypt's table tennis stars usually win most of the gold medals at the Arab level," said Tareq Zaki of the Arab Federation of Table Tennis, agreeing with Ashour that Egypt's under 18 teams could have bagged more gold medals.
