JEDDAH, 24 January 2004 — Top seed Raees Khan, a Pakistani coach of the Kingdom’s Squash Team, won the First Charitable Squash Open Championship, which ended at the Jeddah InterContinental Hotel sports Club yesterday. He beat second seed Bandar Alitaiby, a Saudi, 3-0 in the finals.
Prizes to winners and sponsors were given on behalf of Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Majed, patron of the tournament, by his deputy Dr. Abdullah Al-Qaeed yesterday.
A large number of squash fans turned up to watch the matches in which 60 players mostly from Jeddah and a few from Riyadh and the Eastern Province took part. On the opening day, 56 matches were played and 16 players qualified for the second day’s rounds. They included Zuhair Al-Musa, Yousif Kar Ali, Yousif Khan, Abdullah ibn Salman Anees Kannu, Khalid Hadi, Basim Al-Baltaji, Ammar Al-Sharief, Tareg Ageena, Andaria Alghawi, Eisa Khan, Husain Abu Alnoor, Shahir Khan and Abdul Aziz ibn Salman, aside from the two top seeds. Bandar has been the Saudi Squash Federation champion for eight years.
“The tournament evoked a lot of interest among squash players and followers,” said Fahad Al-Refaie who headed the 11-member panel of referees. The referee panel also included Waleed Tabash, Fahd Barakati, Abdullah Alami, Ahmed Al-Dosari, Abdul Rahim Hariri, Omar Alaali, Hassan Najjar, Saleh Rashid and Saleh Al-Hussain.
The tournament, organized by the Orphans’ Friends Committee of Al-Bir Charitable Society, carried cash prizes totaling SR18,750 for first eight positions. The organizers included Saleh Al-Turki, chairman of the board of the Al-Bir Charitable Society, and Suhail Al-Nageeb, who heads the executive committee of the tournament and also of the Orphans’ Friends Committee. Others included Mazen M. Batterjee, secretary general of the Al-Bir society, and Fahd A.R. Batterjee, member of the society.
Tournament sponsors Bugshan Heavy Equipment , NAFT Services, United Sugar, Sadafco, Jeddah InterContinental, and MBC Panorma were also honored.
