KUWAIT: The tennis season 2017-2018 came to a conclusion under the patronage and presence of President of Arab and Kuwait Tennis Federations Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Sabah, as the last tournament that started April 29 was held with the participation of 112 players representing 10 clubs, Al-Tadhamon, Al-Sahel, Salmiya, Shabab, Sulaibkhat, Qadesiya, Kuwait, Yarmouk, Kheitan and Kazima.

The final doubles match was between Ali Abdelreda Ismail and his partner Hamid Al-Sulaiteen from Kheitan club, against Mansour and Abdullah Buhamad from Kazima, which was won by Kheitan 6-3, 6-3, as Kazima ended in second place.

The singles match saw Kheitan's Fahad Al-Saad winning first place, Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Mukaimi second and third place was won by Kheitan's Ali Ismail and Yarmouk's Abdelhameed Al-Shatti.

The final standings of participating clubs is Kheitan first with 306 points, Yarmouk second with 217 points, Kuwait in third with 125, Kazima fourth with 81 points, Salmiya fifth with 57 points, Qadisiya sixth with 40 points, Sahel seventh with 20 points, Shabab eighth with 14 points, Tadhamon ninth with 10 points and Sulaibkhat tenth with nine points.

The closing ceremony saw the honoring of KTF technical director Abbas Al-Busairi, as all coaches of clubs were also honored in appreciation of their efforts.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah congratulated the winning clubs and wished the rest the best of luck in coming events. He expressed satisfaction towards the levels shown by many players be it in the final tournament or earlier ones.

He also congratulated national team players for their achievement in qualifying Kuwait to the second group of Davis Cup during the qualifiers held in Vietnam in April as Kuwait defeated Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Syria and Malaysia.

He said the club pays attention to youngsters, particularly juniors on whom the future of the game depends. He said KTF prepared a special program for the junior teams year long to guarantee their participation in several Asian and international tournaments.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber thanked the Public Authority for Sports for its support of all activities be it in Kuwait or abroad. He also thanked all participating clubs in the ICTF activities.

By Abdellatif Sharaa