RIYADH, 11 November — The first sports tournament in the Kingdom that responded to the call of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) for support has done it again.
During the closing ceremonies of the 3rd Ma’aden Cup Tennis Tournament held at Al-Sharq Hotel on Friday, organizers passed the hat around and committee members, players, and guests responded by turning in 475 riyals.
The amount is in addition to the $100 collected during the opening ceremony also for the PNRC.
“Sharing whatever amount to a charity while playing tennis has given a new dimension to fully enjoy the game,” said Limbo Zamora, a member of the Nickel team, one of the quarter-finalists.
PNRC asked for help from Filipino communities in the Kingdom through a letter sent to the Philippine Embassy in July.
Aside from Ma’aden, among those in Riyadh who have answered the call are the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE), Nour Al-Maaref International School, and Black Python, a martial arts group.
“Sharing has been a common virtue among the employees of Ma’aden,” claimed one committee member.
“Ma’aden is one company that truly provides recreation program for its employees,” he said, adding that since its employees have that opportunity to play on concrete courts paid by the company, they instead thought of sharing such opportunity to non-Ma’aden employees, and so the holding of Ma’aden tennis tournaments started.
Jim Berenguel is a familiar name registered in all of Ma’aden-sponsored past tournaments. He said that if he would compare this tournament with the rest, Ma’aden is the most organized tournament that he had joined so far. “Other tournaments do not even have the formality of holding opening ceremonies, ‘laro agad’,” he added.
“You paid 100 riyals as entrance fee, alright. But if we compare this tournament with other similar tournaments, hindi na kayo lugi. We provide free tennis balls, t-shirt, and if you are luckier enough, you will get the chance of winning in our raffle draw,” said Khamis Mehajul, the tournament chairman in his speech.
The committee gave away various items like pens, wallets, face towels, and a 20-inch TV set to the grand raffle winner.
Abdallah Dabbagh and Abdullah Busfar of Ma’aden also extended their greetings of a happy, productive, and peaceful Ramadan to all the participants.
According to Mehajul, the group plans to hold the next tournament in time for the celebration of Philippine Independence Day next year.
Twenty teams or 200 players participated in this year’s tournament, which had been made possible in coordination with the Public, Government Affairs and Industrial Security Department, and the Sports and Recreation Committee of the Saudi Arabian Mining Company.
The officiating and technical committee is composed of Benjie Lee as tournament director, with Jimmy Mendoza, Ding Eustaquio, Leo Barinan, Rolly Mariano, Rey Sanchez, Naser Nanong, Philip Cardenas, Gerry Villaraiz, Jun Flores, and Benjie Tiburcio as members.
