TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA ABDULLA al Tamimi overcame a stiff resistance from Abdulrahman al Malki to win the open class crown at the Qatar Closed 2012 Squash Tournament.

At the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Abdulla was tested by more experienced Malki and both shared the first two opening games.

But Abdulla’s better fitness and more aggression paid off, helping him clinch the next two games quite comfortably.

The final scoreline of the 40- minute-long match was 13-11 9-11 11-7 11-5 in favour of Abdulla.

Abdulla’s brother, Ahmed, took the third place, disposing of Saud al Sulaiti in straight games. Only in the second game, there was a close battle but Ahmed controlled the proceedings well to win the match by 11-4 11-7 11-4.

The matches in the junior categories – under-9, under- 11 and under-13 – were held at the round-robin league basis to give more matches to the young players.

Ibrahim Ahmed Darwish won the under-9 class with a perfect record, winning all the 10 matches. Rashid al Harib finished runner-up. Ahmed Tariq and Tameem Abdulrahman Alaji got the third and fourth spots.

Abdulaziz al Ishaq emerged the winner of the under-11 class. He also won all his 10 matches. In the entire event, he dropped only three games on the way to the crown.

Second place was taken by Rashid al Harib, who had 19 points from nine wins and one loss. Ahmad Tariq al Obaidli was third in the group and Tameem Abdulrahman Alaji was the fourth.

Hamad Mohammed al Amri also came up with a fine record to win the under-13 tittle.

He clinched all his six matches. Only once did he give away a game before logging maximum possible 12 ponits. Ahmad al Homaidli grabbed the runner-up spot with 11 points. Hassim Sulah Abu-Hussain finished two points behind Homaidli to get the third place. The top four was rounded out by Ebrahim Hisham al Gosaibi.

Qatar Squash Federation Secretary General Hisham al Gosaibi was the chief guest at the closing ceremony and gave away the prizes.