Ahmed Yehya, Jaffer and Ammar clinched top honors in the Dammam Open Badminton Tournament at the Al-Ettifaq Club here recently. The event made history as it was the first official tournament of the Saudi Badminton Committee (SBC) held under the auspices of Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee. The two-day badminton fest, conducted by Evenlode Badminton Club (EBC) here, also witnessed the inauguration of the Shuttle Time program in Saudi Arabia. This is a World Badminton Federation (BWF) school program with a strategic vision to bring badminton to every child in the world. Kids from Saudi schools, Philippines schools, Dunes International School, International Indian School, Al-Khozama School and Al-Muna School attended the function. Senior officials from Badminton Asia Confederation — Development Manager Thana Arikrishnan and Badminton World Federation (BWF) Middle East Development Manager Jaffer Ebrahim — graced the inaugural ceremony. They also conducted a two-day Shuttle Time teachers' course to implement this program in all the schools in Saudi Arabia. Over 800 players from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar took part in the championship. Competitions were held in Under-13 singles and doubles, Under-15 singles and doubles, Under-17 singles and doubles, Flight 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 doubles, Championship singles and doubles, Premier singles and doubles and Veterans doubles. The matches were played at two venues on 6 courts at Al-Ettifaq Club and 3 courts at Dunes International School covering 420 games over two days. About 50 junior Saudi Arabian players took part in the event under the professional training of Ammar Awad, coach of the Saudi badminton team. The prestigious singles final in the Premier section was an all-Yehya Qatari brothers affair in which Ahmed beat Mohammed 21-18, 16-21, 21-17. In the Premier doubles, Jaffer and Ammar proved too good for Ralph and Salvador (21-18, 21-9). In the semis, the Filipino duo of Ralph and Salvador from KSA beat Yehya brothers in a hot contest (22-24, 21-16, 22-20). The other promising junior players who impressed in the tourney were Ethan Joseph, Jadeer Hassan, Salman Arif, Rayyan Raouf and John Joy. SBC Asst. General Secretary Abdulaziz Al-Saghan said that this official tournament should be taken as the start of a new era in badminton in the Kingdom. He appreciated the efforts of the organizers Evenlode Badminton Club, its president Tony Abraham and the tournament committee. Jamal Abdoulab, mentor of EBC, and Olayan Al-Harbi, asst. chairman, thanked the major sponsors and other supporters Dadabhai Travels, Alpha Graphics, Bawanland, Dunes International School, Power Link, Aeroplane Shuttles, Almarai, Procare Riaya Hospital, High Waves Marine, Sinmar, Gambit, Al-Saady Trading, Victor Al-Rayyan, M Gate and I-vision. The tournament committee included Abdulaziz, Olayan, Tony, Fahad, Adhil, Abu Faisal, Ammar, Jaffer, Mansoor, Majeed, Babu, Shaji, Shafeek, Meharoof, Shoaib, Sudheer, Nisar, Illyas, Arif, Baigue, Jamsheed, Thaju, Naufal, Noor, Ganesh, Biju, Stanley, Riju, Ratheesh, Thanveer, Biju, Azeem, Shafi, Junaid, Baigue, Khairul, Tahir, Suraj and Bhagwan. Results (all finals) Junior boys U-13 singles A – Ethan bt Julian; U-13 doubles A – Ahmed & Ethan bt Kleric & Julian; U-13 singles B - Varun bt Thaha; U-15 singles A – Rayyan; U-15 singles B - Salman; U-15 doubles – Ethan and Hajj bt Shayan and Siddarth; U-17 singles - Jadder bt Johny; U-17 doubles — Petrolinno and Ramuel bt Farhan and Musthafa. Men's doubles Flight 6 A — Arfie and Zherwin bt Joel Morales and Jules Guarana; Flight 6 B — Jay and Noel bt Joel and Rey; Flight 5 — Jairon and Leo bt Jomy and Nousheer; Flight 4 — Ganesh and Mushtaq bt Ameer and Axle; Flight 3 — Nousheer and Sijin bt Noble and Santhosh; Flight 2 — Rajeev and John bt Khalid and Raemuel; Flight 1 — Bhagwan and Jadeer bt Siyam and Vinaykumar; Championship doubles B — Biju and Rajesh bt Jojo and Bineesh; Championship doubles A — Ali and Tawfik bt Maqbool and Shimjid; Premier doubles: Jaffer and Ammar bt Ralph and Salvador. Men's singles Flight Championship — Khaja bt Rahim; Flight Premier — Ahmed Yehya beat Mohammed Yehya. — SG
