JEDDAH, 20 February 2004 — The tennis court No. 1 of Albilad Hotel literally turned into an airport tarmac overnight last Friday during the opening ceremony of the 5th Malaysia Airlines Tennis Cup. Its gate was propped up like that of a passenger plane while a replica of the airlines' jumbo jet was parked close to the base of an electric torch that typified a light beacon, all in full view of the audience.
The creative proceedings also had a scene of passengers boarding into a plane, especially at the time the parade of players passed thru the gate of the tennis court with 4 ladies, each dressed up in Malaysia Airlines stewardess uniform, performed what seemed to be a pre-flight check while beaming courtesy smiles to the tournament players who were getting into their lines.
Efren Rodrigo formally welcomed the players and the audience in his opening speech after taking over from Cesar Quilendrino as new chairman of ASTEC, the Association of Tennis Clubs in Jeddah, organizers of this event.
Atty. Nasser Munder, the labor attaché of the Philippine Consulate, and the consul general of Malaysia in Jeddah, Tuan Haji Zulkifli Yaacob, delivered their opening speeches in which they appreciated the staging of the tournament while encouraging the players to join such sports activities. Tuan Haji Morad Omar, the area manager of Malaysia Airlines (principal sponsor of the tournament) gave the Key note address. Malaysia Airlines staff — Shannuri Saleh (area sales manager), Azmi Jamil (administration manger), and the sales team of Frumencio Lim, Mir Ahmed Ali, and Yunus Husain were also present.
Bob Wilson, the recreation manager of Albilad Hotel, also delivered a short talk. Other guests were representatives of co-sponsors: Rizwan Siddiqui of Racquet Shop, and Sammy Tamondong of the True Filipino Channel (TFC). Other co-sponsors of this event are Blackstallion/Cali Drinks, Farnas Cargo Services, L'Oreal Middleast, El Gusto Sari-sari Store and La Parilla Restaurant.
The team participants, who had registered 504 players in all, did an excellent supporting role with the little girls of the Starlets team and the NCB-Evian team, parading as mascots and capturing the spectators' attention as they checked in at separate instances. The Starlets were a grand slam winner for the honors of Best Mascot and of Best Team Uniform in category C.
Catherine Ignacio won the spectators' prize, a Malaysia Airlines ticket, bearing a Jeddah-Manila(or Cebu)-Jeddah route, in a raffle drawn by the airlines' area manager assisted by the organizers. Karyl Carreon of SPTC-Jameel Cargo team was unanimously picked as the Best Team Muse by a panel of judges. Team-uniform winners were: Toyota, SG-Almira, Starlets in category C, NCB-Evian in category B2, Lindt in category B1, and Theragram in category Mixed B-plus/B/B1.
Spectators overflowed the bleachers of the tennis courts to the adjacent court No. 4, and stayed put to the finish of the much-awaited doubles showdown of 4 Jeddah-based star players. The 4 players were introduced by the chair-umpire, Rhodel Rina, who welcomed them aboard to court No-1: Rico Gonzales and Dong Sandoval versus Robert Saavedra and Zulfikar Ahmad.
