4th Fujairah ITF Junior Tennis Championships 16-21 January 2012

The players arrived last Wednesday and Thursday (11-12^th January) and have completed the qualifying rounds.

Today (Monday 16 January) a Press Conference signaled the commencement of the Under 18 championship with the finals to be played next Saturday (21 January 2012) followed by the prize giving ceremony.

Championship Features

Now that the qualifying stage is over there are four main events:

Boy’s singles

Girl’s singles

Boy’s doubles

Girl’s doubles

There are a record number of players this year with a great boost in the number of girls. There are 60 boys and 54 girls participating, a total of 114 players.

All five continents are represented with players representing these continents and countries:

America

USA, Canada

Australia

Australia

Africa

Egypt

Europe

France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherland, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Russia, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Georgia and Lithuania.

Asia

Philippines, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Syrian Arab Republic and Turkmenistan.

Top Seeds

Boys

1. Artem Oganesyan from Russia who is ranked 138.

2. Enzo Py from France who is ranked 153.

3. Mina Albert from Egypt who is ranked 240.

4. Wisnu Adi Nugroho from Indonesia who is ranked 309.

Girls

1. Nour Tohamy from Egypt who is ranked 253.

2. Marina Albert from Egypt who is ranked 329.

3. Naz Karagoz from Turkey who is ranked 365.

4. Kristina Ostojic from Serbia who is ranked 400.

Press Conference

The media conference was chaired by A. G. Behrozian (Chairman of the Fujairah Tennis Club) who welcomed those in attendance and introduced the speakers and dignitaries: Salah Bramly (Tennis Emirates), Oktay Talibov (CEO Fujairah Tennis Club), Milan Radjenovic (Head Tennis Coach), Amir Sadri (Prince—sponsor), Mahmoud Laajili (Referee), Ravil Shamshilov (Club Director), Vikram Rai (Coral Suites-Sponsor) and Ahmed Abdul Fatah (Fujairah National Driving Institute-Sponsor).

Developing Young Players

A. G. Behrozian (pictured below) admitted that in Fujairah “tennis has not had the profile it deserves and it has been overshadowed by football.” He confessed that he and his club had not worked hard enough to introduce tennis to the Fujairah public and he hoped this would be rectified in the light of the new CEO and management at the Fujairah Tennis Club.

Behrozian said that last year representatives from his club had gone to twenty Fujairah schools that were later narrowed down to four. They picked twenty students and arranged for them to have special coaching and general education tuition. Through this means they have sought to select and nurture three or four of the best tennis players in Fujairah.

For parents who fear that their tennis-playing children will neglect their general education the club has provided private teachers and assisted with transport.

Coaching and Courses

Mr. Behrozian and FTCC CEO, Mr. Talibov (pictured below), said that the club wants to work harder with coaching the best players in Fujairah and assisting them and their families in other practical ways. Mr. Talibov said they have the first Master Course arranged in February for female tennis players in which a former Wimbledon Junior tennis champion will be giving the major input.

Tournaments v Seminars

An extensive discussion emerged about the best way to raise the profile of tennis and some media representatives made the positive suggestion of concentrating less on tournaments and more on seminars and other public awareness and training events.

Take a Look

Some of the faces around the Fujairah Tennis Club today can be seen in this photo album.

Downloads

The Event Calendar and Organizers for the 4^th Fujairah ITF Junior Championships 16-21 January can be downloaded from this link.

The Official Tournament Calendar for the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club (Season 2011/2012) can be downloaded from this link.

Geoff Pound

More Fujairah news, resources, information and photos are posted on the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page.