JEDDAH, 30 May 2003 — The 1st Panasonic Junior Tennis Tournament began with a big bang at Hiba compound. A huge crowd of turned out to witness the opening of this prestigious event on May 26. A total of 40 participants took part in the opening of the draw.
Waqas Sajid, newly crowned champion in Beginner singles category, heads the cast of talented neophyte baseliners in this event organized by the Jeddah Tennis Organization’s (JeTO) Junior Tennis League.
Meanwhile, heading another list is Ali Dipatuan in the Intermediate singles category. He recently won the 1st leg of this junior tennis circuit at Springvillage compound. Fredrik Larsson, Dodi Shaaban and Andre Olegario, the second, third and fourth seeds, join him respectively. Rounding up the list of seeded players are Raghav Ramabadran, No. 5; N. Shaaban, No. 6; Ahmed Salam, No. 7; and Tamer Attar, No.8.
In the Advance singles category, Colin Dektar and the Alljiran are the first and second seeds respectively.
Robert Saavedra, the tournament committee chairman of JeTO, put emphasis on the virtue of sportsmanship in his opening remarks and orientation. “One of the reasons why we work so hard to put up a junior tennis league is for the tennis playing kids out there to have a medium to showcase their immensely growing talent for the game”, he said.
The finals will be played on June 6 to be followed by the awarding ceremonies. Trophies and special prizes await the winners of this JeTO tennisfest, which are being provided by the sole sponsor, Panasonic.
Leg 3 of the JeTO Junior Tennis league will be staged some time in September of this year.
