Rizq And Ali Are Back On Course
July 4th, 2009 | | SeemaQADRI Rizq and his teammate Emad Ali revived their chances in the Men’s Super Doubles of the first Marcom Gulf Summer Tennis Championship being held at the Bahrain Tennis Club courts in Juffair. The pair beat Fahad Al Hassan and Ali Fakhro 6-1, 6-3 for their second win. Rizq and Ali now share second place in Group ‘A’ with two other pairs – Mohammed Jaffer /Ahmed Jaffer and Hussain Al Khonaizi/Hassan Al Khonaizi – with four points from three matches.
Today’s match between Hussain Al Khonaizi and Hassan Al Khonaizi and Mohammed Jaffer and Ahmed Jaffer will decide the pairs to reach the semi-finals from this group. In Group ‘B’, Abdulhussain Nashaba and his teammate Jaffer Al Adraj will vie for a place in the second round along with Nasser Khonji/Yousef Al Qaud and Arash/Siddiq Barkawi.
In the men’s doubles, Ismail Al Marhoon teamed up with Khalid Kamal to outplay their opponents Ibrahim Qaed and Mohammed Al Anzoor 6-1, 6-1 in Group ‘A’. This group is being led by Hussain Al Makharraq and Cassius Perreira who have seven points. Ismail Al Marhoon and Khaid Kamal and Ali Abdulraouf and Mohammed Al Suwaieh will now battle for the second and last slot in the quarter-finals.
The surprise tandem of Yousef Al A’ali and Ali Mahfood, making their debut in this tournament, are on top in Group ‘B’ with six points from three successive victories and are still the only unbeaten side in the group. Khalid Ghuloom and Sami Al Salem and Ahmed Kamal and Odrious, who have four points each, are battling for the second spot in this group. The two pairs will face off tomorrow to determine second place from the group. The winners will join Yousef Al A’ali and Ali Mahfood in the quarter-finals.
Group ‘C’ is being led by Mahmood Al Shehabi and his partner Mohammed Al Mosawi with six points each from three games. Behind them are Ashraf Harbi and Hassan Al Attar who are on four points with a match in hand while Mohammed Nasser and Abdulrahman Al Thani are third with two points from three matches.
The championship, being organised for the first time, is sponsored by Marcom Gulf Advertising. It got underway last Sunday and features two events – men’s doubles and men’s super doubles. A total of 16 players, drawn into two groups of four pairs, are taking part in the men’s doubles. The pairs are competing in round robin matches with each group winners and runners-up qualifying for the semi-finals knock-out stage.
The tournament also features a men’s super doubles category where 30 players are in the fray, making up 15 pairs. Participants are placed into three groups of five pairs each. This category also features round robin matches in the first round with each group winners and runners-up, plus the best two third place teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.