Dubai: The UAE’s top table tennis player has decided to retire after serving her country as its top women’s player for more than a decade.
Majd Al Beloushi, 23, announced her decision at the end of the first day of the Nakheel Table Tennis Asian Cup at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
The youngster from Sharjah Ladies Club (SLC), who recently graduated as an architectural engineer, was part of the three-member UAE squad participating in the three-day continental competition.
Five of the top-10 in the men’s section and four of the top-10 in the women’s category are in competition at the tournament that has brought together eleven table tennis countries in Dubai for the first time.
The event has an added significance with men’s defending Asian Cup champion and World No 3, Xu Xin of China, and teammate and 2012 Olympic champion Zhang Jike very much in the running for likely qualification spots for the Rio Olympic Games.
Al Beloushi, who took a fascination for the sport from her brothers and father when she was just five-years-old, has been the UAE national women’s champion since she was 12.
“It’s been a long time and I can say that I have really enjoyed my stay at the top of women’s table tennis. But one day one has to make a decision to step away and I guess this is my day,” Al Beloushi told Gulf News.
Though so young, Al Beloushi has been the guiding force for the two others in the squad, teenagers Abdullah Al Beloushi from Al Ahli and her team-mate at SLC Noura Al Maazmi.
“These young players are more fortunate than us. Thanks to the efforts of bodies such as the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), it is lovely to see the UAE being able to play at such an important event. We did not have as many opportunities, and I am happy that these young players have a chance to compete at this level and develop in their sport,” Al Beloushi remarked.
However, she will not be too far away from her favourite sport - as the UAE Table Tennis and Badminton Association has asked Al Beloushi to take over the responsibility of being the head of women’s sport. “I will still be around,” Al Beloushi promised.
