Muscat, Jan 4 - Oman’s veteran player Salim Abubaker, registered the first victory of the Sultanate team at the seventh edition of the Arabian Veteran Tennis Championship which began the competitions on Saturday at tennis courts in Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. The former vice chairman of Oman Tennis Committee defeated Saudi’s Saleh al Enzi 4-2 and 4-1 at the singles competitions of 55 years category. The official opening of the tournament will be held on Sunday under the auspices of Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed al Saeedi, the Minister of Legal Affairs in presence of dignitaries and officials. The four days tourney is under the organisation of Arab Seniors Tennis Union (ASTU) in coordination with Oman Table Tennis Association (OTTA).
In the other Saturday morning sessions competition, the Egyptian player Ehab Fathi beat Ehab Fathi Omar al Yammi 4-0 and 4-1. Iraq’s Mohammed Hassan outplayed Saudi’s Ridha Abdullah 4-2 and 4-0. As many as 143 players from 14 nations are looking to clinch the titles of the Arabian championship in different levels including 35 years category which featured 32 players. The 45 years category comprised 44 players, the 55 years category featured 38 players, the 65 years category comprised 15 players and the 70 years category featured of 10 players.
All the players from all the participating countries arrived in Muscat on Friday and the top Arabian level senior tennis event will include players from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine and the hosts Oman.
The technical committee meeting which is chaired by Algerian Karim Sadallah was held on Friday. The committee announced the approved list of the players which consists of 143 players. All the matches will be played in knockout stages style and best of three set will be implemented. Every set is from four games. If they both players reached one set all then tie break will be implemented.
Also, the committee decided the ranking of the registered players in the championship will be based on the results of last edition which occurred in Iraq and 2017 edition in Jordan. The players who achieved top places will be at the top of the group including Majeed al Asfoor from the Sultanate team who was the runner up.
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