ITF Futures gets underway today

Manama : The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures Men’s Professional Tournament gets underway today with 16 men’s qualifying matches from 10am at the Bahrain Tennis Club premises in Juffair.
Qualifying also continues tomorrow to determine who will play in the singles event set to start on Monday and finish with the finals on Saturday.
A doubles competition will also get underway on Monday and finish on Saturday.
This Championship is being held for the six consecutive years under the patronage of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee.
Bahrain’s Kareem Abdulnabi will take on Switzerland’s Andrew Ruppli ranked 1,154 at 10am and compatriot Yousif Dhaif will be in action later in the day against Germany’s Jonathan Morr ranked 1,939.
Players from Switzerland, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Sweden, India, Spain, Netherlands, UAE, Egypt, France, Slovakia and hosts Bahrain are in the fray for qualifying with U$15,000 in prize money up for grabs.
Top seeds in the main singles are Tallon Griekspoor (Netherlands, ranked 318), Michal Konecny (Czech Republic, 362), Filip Horansky (Slovakia, 368) and Sanjar Fayziev (Uzbekistan, 380).
The tournament director is Bahrain Tennis Club board member Ali Khonji, while Qatar’s Dr Ashraf Hamouda heads the panel of referees and is assisted by Bahrain’s Ahmed Al Hawaj.
Other referees include Kuwaitis, Abdel Raoof Abdel Salam, Ali Al Mutairi and Hassan Ashkanani, from Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Al Ajaji, Yousuf Turayf and Jassim Akakah and from Morocco Abdelhaq Jawar, while 20 Bahrainis have been appointed as line judges.