Oman set for GCC junior tennis from Dec 22

Anuroop Athiparambath -

MUSCAT, DEC 18 -

The Sultanate will host the GCC under-14 and under-18 boy’s championships at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat from December 22 to 29.

All the GCC countries except the UAE have been confirmed for the one-week long tournament, according to the Oman Tennis Association (OTA), who will organise the event.

“Oman have a great chance in the under-18 singles as we have Abdullah al Barwani and Muneer al Rawahi in top form at the moment,” Mundhir bin Taghlib al Barwani, OTA Secretary-General and Director of the Championship, told Oman Observer.

“Abdullah is right now attending training sessions at the Mouratoglou academy in Paris. Both Abdullah and Muneer are Davis Cup players and they can bring their experience into the GCC-level tournament,” Mundhir added.

The under-14 section will have the team tournament only, while under-18 will be singles and team events.

The OTA press conference at the Al Morooj Grant Hotel in Bausher was also attended by OTA Chairman Khalid bin Ali al Adi, Salman bin Abdulrahim al Balushi, general supervisor of the championship; and Moosa bin Saif al Hinai, head of delegations. In his opening remarks, the OTA chief hailed the significant role of the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Oman Olympic Committee for their support in hosting such events from time to time.

“The Sultanate has become a hub for tennis after having hosted the recent Davis Cup Group IV tournament in which our national team won the title.”

Al Adi stated that there were considerable efforts being made by the OTA’s board of directors to host international and regional tennis events which in turn promote and develop the sport in the Sultanate.

“Oman players have improved a lot thanks to the exposure and quality training the receive,” he said.

“The OTA is fully prepared and all set at an early stage to host this championship by ensuring proper courts, which were ready following the hosting of the Davis Cup tournament.”

“In fact, availability of good courts has given us more impetus to host any other championship. All courts and other relevant facilities are ideally set out together with the other facilities and the new courts will host a GCC competition for the first time. Everyone is looking forward to good results and we hope that our national team will perform as required to make a new achievement for the Omani tennis” the OTA chairman concluded.

Draw on Dec 21

Mundhir al Barwani said the delegations will be accommodated at Al Morooj Grand Hotel.

“The draw will be held on December 21 at 6 pm at the same hotel and on December 22 the competition will set off. OTA will host a dinner in honour of the participating delegations on December 26. The closing ceremony will take place on December 29 at the tennis courts at 6:30 pm.”

Oman under-14 and under-18 team members were selected by the technical staff of the national teams following a series of daily coaching and through monthly championships staged by OTA and the results scored by various players.

All GCC tennis teams of these two age categories will take part in this championship except the UAE teams, Salam al Balushi said.

“The organising committee has selected Aseel Shahin of Kuwait as a general referee for management of the championship’s competitions. Aseel has a good track record in refereeing such championships, particularly in GCC events. Oman’s national referee Abdulrazzaq Saad will act as assistant general referee,” he said.

About the system of the championship Salman al Balushi further said: “According to the championship’s system, the teams (both singles and doubles) will play one another in the competitions. Three matches will be staged, two in the singles competitions and one in the doubles competitions. The singles will be played on a knockout basis, and the players will be classified according to their international rankings”.

The Technical Committee consists of Abdul Redha Jasim al Ghareeb of Kuwait as chairman and Mundhir al Barwani, Salman bin Abdulrahim al Balushi, Aseel Shahin and Abdulrazzaq Said as members. The organising committee will hold a meeting on the sidelines of the championship in Muscat on December 23 under the chairmanship of Abdul Redha Jassim al Ghareeb, Chairman of GCC Organising Committee.

The OTA will be represented by Khalid al Adi and Salman al Balushi.

The meeting is expected to discuss a number of issues including the shifting of the Organising Committee’s premises from Kuwait to one of the GCC countries, programmes of championships for the upcoming period and activation of the role of the technical GCC technical committees.