The Jeddah Badminton Club (JBC), in co-operation with the Evenlode Badminton Club (EBC) of Dammam, recognized by the Saudi Badminton Committee, is all set to conduct the region's biggest badminton event, Jeddah Open Challenge 2016. The launching of this event took place at Ascott Hotel, attended by tournament committee and representatives from sponsors. The Chairman of JBC, Sahadh Mohammed, and the President of EBC, Tony Mathew, signed an agreement to conduct the event on March 11-12 at the Olympia Badminton Complex of Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital in Jeddah. This will be the first time such a big event is conducted in Jeddah with the participation of invited overseas players. The objective in conducting this tournament is to promote badminton and build camaraderie among all the badminton communities in the region. This will also help to scout young talents and build them to grow as an elite player. Over 1,000 players from all over the Kingdom — from Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Asir, Abha, Jazan and Jubail — are expected to take part in this two-day event. Badminton fans will have an opportunity to watch players from different nationalities — Jordan, Egypt, Syria, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, China and Singapore — in action. The categories will be: Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, Veterans (Above 45 years), Juniors and Sub-Juniors etc. The winners and runners up will be awarded with attractive cash prizes and awards. The launching of the event was done by the tournament committee, led by Eapen Mathews (chairman), Tony Mathew (director), Alayan Al-Harbi (representative from Saudi Badminton Committee), Rico Gonzalvez (technical director), Rajeev Matheyil (treasurer) and Ganesh Iyer (co-ordinator). The guests who graced the ceremony were K.T.A. Muneer, president of Overseas Indian Cultural Congress (OICC) Western Region; Ali Amouily, representative from Saudi Total Petroleum Company; and Ashraf Kunnath, representative from Jotun Paint Company. The brand ambassador of the event will be Bahrain's Jaffer Ebrahim, who is the current development project manager of Middle East for Badminton World Federation (BWF). He is also a world ranking badminton player and Olympic player of Bahrain. World ranking players from India, Syria, Jordan and Qatar are also expected to take part in the tourney. The tournament will also be supported by Jeddah Badminton Association, Ace Arabia and Overseas Indian Cultural Congress (OICC) western regional committee, Jeddah. For more information contact Rajeev Matheyil (0549126568/0553048702) or [email protected]. — SG
