JEDDAH, 4 July 2003 — The final preparations are under way for the staging of the Prince Talal Bin Mansour Tennis Cup, an official event of the 24th Jeddah Summer Festival.
The Jeddah Tennis Organization (JeTO) will organize the event. JeTO is chaired by Sergio Taga.
The event will be held at Al Bilad Hotel Tennis Courts, from July 6-18, 2003. All matches will start at 6 p.m.
A press conference has been scheduled at the newly renovated banquet hall of Al Bilad Hotel on July 5, 2003, Saturday at 9:30 p.m., where major sponsors and the press has been invited.
Prince Talal will address the media in connection with the tennis tournament. Immediately after the press conference, the drawing of lots will commence to determine the opponents of the seeded players.
The event is sponsored by the Office of Prince Talal Bin Mansour and co-sponsored by Tudor Watches, Attar Travel, British Airways and Cyprus Airways and Abuljadayel Co., distributor of Caesar Juice and Bison Energy Drink.
No. 1 seed Colin Dektar was a cut above the rest when he dispatched of No. 2 seed Al Ijran in the finals of the 1st Panasonic Junior Tennis Tournament in the Advance Singles category in front of a capacity crowd at Hiba compound. Although, Al Ijran fought gallantly it was Dektar who controlled the tempo and the match and prevailed at 8-5.
Newcomer and unseeded Tom Aniort was a revelation in the intermediate singles when he upset heavily favored Ali Dipatuan also in the finals. Dipatuan took an early 3-0 lead but could not keep up the momentum. Aniort showed nerves of steel when he steadily overtook Dipatuan’s lead 4-3 and eventually won the title 8-4.
In the Beginner Singles category, Luay Muorad gave top seed Waqas Sajid a scare, surging to a 4-2 early lead. Muorad could not close out the match. Sajid, the Springvillage leg champion, showed grit and composure when he slowly ate up Muorad’s lead and won 6-4.
In the Intermediate Doubles category, Raghav Ramabadran and Nasri Magdalani were crowned champions when they defeated Nader Safadi and Kristian Naparan 8-3.
All winners received gift prizes from Panasonic who supported the tournament.
Meanwhile, JeTO tournament director Jovy Llevares announced that the next leg of this Junior Tennis League will be staged sometime in the last week of September of this year.
