JEDDAH, 15 November 2006 — The field was cut by half to 32 from an original 64-man draw as the Mobily International 6th & 7th Youth Tennis Championship that began on Saturday in Riyadh entered the round of 16 in the singles and quarterfinals in the doubles.
Matches are played at the Riyadh Intercontinental Hotel courts with the singles and doubles finals set for next Friday at 6:30 p.m., according to tournament referee Yousif Al-Tareif.
Seeing action in the event organized by Saudi Tennis Federation under the supervision of International Tennis Federation are Under-18 players from United States, Canada, Portugal, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Yemen, Venezuela, Cyprus, India, Kuwait, Ghana, Iran, Sri Lanka, Poland, United Emirates, Bahrain and hosts Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Thamer Al-Intabi beat Polish Thomas Mark two sets to one on Monday to lead the winners into the round of 16 in the singles.
Al-Intabi teamed up with Kuwaiti Hashim Abdal to reach the doubles quarterfinals along with, among others, the Egyptian pair of Karim Maoun and Tariq Al-Esawi, Thomas Mark and Jersey Janos (Turkey) and Colly Akshi and Dibndra Das (India). The tournament sponsor, Mobily, meantime, organized a contest at the halftime break for media people who covered the friendly match on Wednesday between Saudi Arabia and Jordan in Riyadh. Imad Al-Mufawwaz, reporter at Arab News sister publication Asharq Al-Awsat won the fun game after scoring a goal in Mobily’s net. Al-Mufawwaz was the only one out of 20 reporters to score a goal from the six shots given to each of them. A prize of a free mobile phone and Mobily phone chip was to be awarded to the one who scores three out of six shots. According to Mobily PR man, the contest is under the company’s promotion campaign dubbed
“Participate, play, enjoy and win with Mobily.”
In addition, Mobily Sports Marketing Team Leader Ashraf Younes said Mobily is the official sponsor of 13 local sports in the Kingdom including Saudi Football Federation, Saudi Squash Federation, Saudi Volleyball Federation, Saudi Tennis Federation, Saudi Gymnastic Federation, Saudi Fencing Federation, Saudi Swimming Federation, Saudi Cycling Federation, Saudi Judo and Taekwondo Federation, Saudi Sports For All Federation, Saudi Sports Federation for Special Needs, Saudi Cars Racing Federation and the Saudi Scuba Program.
