40 Bahrain Tennis Club Members to Attend Qatar Open Matches

Manama, January 3 (QNA) - Forty Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) members travel to Doha Thursday to attend Qatar ExxonMobil Open Tennis Tournament as well as hold meeting with Qatar officials to boost tennis ties between the two nations, according to Gulf Daily News report today. BTC President Khamis Al Muqla is leading the delegation to Qatar facilitated by club board member Dr Mohammed Al Mosawi. During their stay in Doha, Al Muqla and other club members will hold several meetings with high-ranking Qatari tennis officials to discuss means of co-operation and bolstering ties between the two parties in this sporting discipline. Al Muqla said a good turnout of 13 players as well as six administrators and coaches were in Bahrain to participate in the first Ebrahim K. Kanoo Junior Championship organised by the club last month. Al Muqla said both sides have been co-ordinating in the past few weeks to organise the 2013 ITF Futures Juniors Championships, with more details in this regards to be announced later. The six-day Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2013 celebrates 21 years of world-class tennis presentation in Doha. Since 1993, the world's top tennis players have parade their extra-ordinary talents before tennis fans in Qatar. The tournament, hosted by the Qatar Tennis Federation at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, has become the highest prize-money event of the ATP World Tour's 250 Series events with this year's total purse being $1,054,720. This year's event brings 2012 finalist Gael Monfils who beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 last night and Spain's world No. five David Ferrer defeated another German Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-2 while second seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet required two hours and 44 minutes to overcome Slovenia's spirited Grega Zemlja 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). (QNA)