The 15-year-old will be competing as a wildcard in what is the last ranking tournament prior to the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Reigning men’s and women’s Olympic champions Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia, five of the world’s top-10 men, and four of the top-10 women are all in action this weekend at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
And while the majority of the Dubai field will be fighting for spots at this summer’s Games, Al Balooshi, for now, is simply hoping to acquire some experience which would help him in his dream goal of making the 2020 Olympics down the road.
“I’ve been training every day and I feel ready,” Al Balooshi told Sport360.
“I expect to learn a lot from this competition. I’m looking for exposure and experience. I’m young and they are much more experienced than I am. So you have to set your expectations in the right way.
“For sure there are some nerves. I know that I need to learn to be more confident, but that will come with time and experience.”
Al Balooshi comes from an athletic family, his father, Mohammed Al Balooshi, being a former powerlifter and wheelchair basketball player.
The Emirati teenager took up table tennis nine years ago but he says the sport chose him rather than him choosing to pick up a racquet. He initially wanted to play football, but a table tennis coach saw him at Al Ahli club and asked him to try out. He hasn’t looked back since.
“My main goal is to make it to the 2020 Olympics,” said Al Balooshi. “I need to improve in every aspect if I want to achieve my goal. I must practice harder, go to camps abroad, follow a good programme provided by my coach (Egyptian Amgad Solimna).”
While most of Al Balooshi’s competitive experience has come at the national and regional level, he did get a glimpse of what the international scene looks like when he took part in the 2015 World Team Cup that was hosted by Dubai in January last year.
“I learned a lot from that experience,” said the Hamdan bin Rashid school student. “How to return, how to serve, how to think after serving… Hopefully this weekend I can do better.”
Al Balooshi isn’t the only Emirati in action in the Asian Cup. Sharjah Ladies Club’s Noura Al Maazmi will take part in the women’s tournament, also seeking some much-needed exposure to world-class table tennis.
The 17-year-old is counting on the home court advantage to give her a boost in the daunting task ahead of her.
