A Syrian Champion
The Syrian table tennis player Omar Adel Zein Al-Dein was born in Swieda in 1982.
He played the table tennis (Ping Pong) in Al-Araby Club in Swieda, Army Club in Damascus and Al-Huria Club in Aleppo.
He participated in the Arab Table Tennis Championship in 2000 in Damascus and, as a coach, he coached Al-Araby team and the Syrian women national team camp in Tartous.
He left to South Africa in 2010 and began to work as a coach for South Africa team, Head of High Levels Committee and Member of Instructors’ committee to choose the national teams in 2015.
He participated within the South Africa team in the South African Tournament (9 countries) and topped the list of players in the championship in both men and women categories.
As a coach, he participated in the African Tennis Table Tournament and won the bronze medal in women category.
He also participated in Commonwealth Championship, World Championship in Malaysia and World Championship in Sweden.
Nowadays, He is an instructor in CSIR team and main Instructor in Pretoria city. He also supervises the training of players aged 7-9 years.
It is to be noted that Zein Al-Dein is the coach of the World Special Table Tennis Champion with Down Syndrome.
He won the gold medal for the South African team in mixed doubles match on September 28, 2019.
Zein Al-Dein is representing the South African team as an instructor. He raises the flag of the South African National Team, but when (Syriatimes) asked him about Syria, he said: “It has always been an honor to represent the Syrian National Team as a trainer seeking to raise the Syrian flag high in the sky.
Maher Taki