By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Secretary General of Arab and Kuwait Tennis Federations Faleh Al-Otaibi said the 2nd Arab Masters Tennis Tournament will be different and competitions will be of a higher standard as the best top ranked Arab players will participate. The tournament will start Dec 20th and will continue until Dec 27th, as the draw will take place Dec 19th, so that the 24 players will be distributed to four groups.

Faleh Al-Otaibi

Otaibi thanked KTF Board of Directors with Chairman Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Sabah for their constant support of Arab tennis and keenness on developing the game in all Arab countries. He added the tournament received requests by many ranked players at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which promises a high technical standard and will add to the players' experience.

Otaibi, who is also the tournament's manager, said committees of the tournament completed their preparation for the best possible start adding that the first tournament proved highly successful and hope to build on that success with the second both at the technical and administrative levels.

Kuwait tennis player Essa Qabazard said he is technically and physically ready for the event adding "we prepared very will to achieve the best results by participating in several international tournaments in addition to a 4-hour daily training and we intend to compete for places."

Bader Al-Abdallah on his part lauded the ATF and KTF decision to organize the second Masters Edition adding that participating players are considered the best in the Middle East and are ranked by ATP. He said we, as Kuwaiti players will seek top places despite the expected tough competition. Ali Al-Shatti said this is his second participation after reaching the semi-finals of the first tournament and hoped to go further this time as he prepared very well.