Saturday 27 / July / 2024
MUSCAT: Oman’s Munir Al Rawahi claimed the Men’s Pro Singles title of Oman Open Tennis Championship (OOTC) on Sunday. The Omani national team player defeated Nigeria’s Emeruwa Ifeany 2/1 (5-7, 6-2, 6-1) in the final clash to lift the trophy in the concluding day of the three weeks event which ended successfully at the tennis courts of Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. Moutasim Hamoud Sangour al Zadjali, Chairman of Oman Tennis Association (OTA), was the chief guest and he delivered the awards to the top winners in all the categories following the final match.
“ It is great moment to be crowned as champion and I am very delighted with this accomplishment. The final match was very tough and I worked very hard to win this game. Thanks for OTA for this event and I am looking for more success in the near future,” the champion said.
In boys U14 category, Ahmed Ehab won the gold medal while Mutaz al Mazroui ended as runners up while Oman’s AbdulRahman al Rahbi bagged the first place award as he beat Brejesh Sharun by 6/1, 4/6, and 10/7in the final to claim the boys U-18 category title. The duo Ahmed Ehab and AbdulRahman al Rahbi excelled in the boys doubles event as they snatched the award of this category following their thrilling win over the pair of Mutaz al Mazroui and Azzan al Busaidi. The youngster Aisha al Busaidi emerged champions of the girls U18 category as she produced an outstanding show in her final clash against Majda Kamil who ended in second place and the match ended with scores of 6/5 and 6/2. The veteran player Mohammed al Yawaer managed to win the Men’s Veteran singles event of 50+ years as he defeated his opponents Saad al Suliemani while Jacqieline Verhaegen captured the title of the Women’s Veteran singles event of 40+ years after she won against Serpil Demir with scores of 6/0 and 6/0 while in the same category for 50+ years Elizabeth Schmid claimed the title following her win of 3/6, 6/3, and 10/7 over Triglet from South Africa. The duo Younis al Rawahi and Pereira G managed to win the title of the Men’s Pro doubles title following their crucial win over the pair of Adehi Oche and Sunday while duo of Mohammed al Yawer and Salim Abubaker won the title of Men’s Veteran doubles event.
As many as 160 players of various ages and nationalities took part in the tournament which run during the last three weeks. National team players showed top performance to register commendable results across different age groups events. The OTA offered a total cash prize of RO 8,000 for the first place winners in each category in different disciplines, including men’s and women’s categories.
The event re-launched after an absence of two years and the tournament targets to create a competitive atmosphere among players and encourages residents of various nationalities in the Sultanate of Oman to contribute to the development of local competitions.
Return strongly
Moutasim Hamoud al Zadjali, Chairman of OTA, said that we are pleased to return of this essential tournament after two years of absence. “ It is great that Oman Open Tennis Championship is back strongly after two years of stoppage with more than 160 players taking part in the event in different categories. Participating of this number of players is a great success and we are delighted to provide this proper environment for the national and expatriates players to compete” he added
“ Hosting this kind of tournaments act as a great opportunity for the local players to gear up for the forthcoming official events including the national team participation in the Devis Cup beside some other events in Bahrain soon. Oman had hosted recently a successful Central and West Asian qualification for world cup in Musat. There are future plans to host some more Asian events in the Sultanate of Oman and probably at ITF level,” he ended.
Tennis Development
Said Safrar, Board member of OTA, affirmed that Oman Open Tennis Championship is an essential tournament that help to improve the tennis to go into a different advanced level domestically. There are many players in Oman who are playing tennis in different regions and in various venues including: the hotels, owned private courts and the government courts which are available in the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. As OTA, we are working hard to make this game as popular as we can across the country,” he said.
