JEDDAH, 6 April 2003 — When Riyad Juma’a Baker first gripped a table tennis bat after a gap of 14 years, he was unsure if he knew what to do with it. “I wondered whether I would be able to play matches against my formidable opponents.” But he was persuaded to take part in the 2nd LG Table Tennis Tournament 2003. As matches were played every Friday last month, Riyad not only gained in confidence but emerged as the singles winner. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said. He won the singles title by beating Suleman.
The winners received their trophies at the LG-sponsored award ceremony at the Alhamra Sofitel Hotel here on Friday night. Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled A. Al-Maeena was guest of honor at the ceremony.
But the team that stole the thunder was the group of young Saudi players, who after smashing their way to the team title, graciously allowed the field a clear run in the singles and doubles event. Otherwise it would have been a clean sweep by these talented Saudis. They were given a round of applause for their sporting gesture.
The Saudi Star Team members — Majed Baghlaf, Alaa Turkistani, Abdullah Al-Masri and Eaad Shelliah, all of them from Makkah — received a medal and a 21-inch TV each as their prize for winning the Team Event. Runners-up were Asadullah Ghalib, Riyad Juma’a Baker, Faheem Khan and Bashar Kharbut. Winning the trophy for the Doubles Event were Imran Yousuf and Shahid Yousuf of Tokio Marine Insurance Co.
Al-Maeena congratulated LG for organizing the tournament for the second year running. “Arab News has been supporting and sponsoring tennis and cricket tournaments. There are two young boys under our sponsorship who, we hope, will play Wimbledon some day,” he said.
LG General Manager H.K. Seo said: “Hopefully, we’ll come up with more ideas and make the third tournament even better.”
S.M. Arshad, LG’s deputy general manager for marketing and corporate communication, declared LG would organize its 2nd Open Golf Tournament at the Desert Golf Course on May 2.
Nadeem Khan, LG’s assistant marketing manager, said 130 players of 12 nationalities representing 27 companies and 32 teams played in the tournament. LG also gave the best organizational support trophy to Ameem Khan, the best sportsmanship trophy to Dr. Abdul Rashid Ansari of MedNet Gulf, the popularity award to Aleem Rauf of Alhamrani Fuchs Petroleum and a consolation prize to Rehan Hassan of Pakistan International School.
