By Sports Reporter/Doha


The preliminary rounds of the ITF Qatar Futures tournament, organised by the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) under the leadership of Nasser al-Khelaifi began in Doha recently. The event, being competed by 56 players, concludes on December 7.
Aimed at young tennis players, the tournament brings together some of the most promising tennis athletes from around the world. A regular fixture on the ITF international circuit, the Futures tournament is quickly gaining traction with the number of participating players increasing with each edition.
The QTF gave wild cards to five players including Mousa Shanan, Mubarak Shanan, Ali Abdulredha, Amer Mohamed Hassan of Yemen and Italy’s Kosma Olivio. As the host federation, the QTF also provided wild cards to the Qatari trio Mousa Shanan, Eisa Shanan and Ali Abdulredha in doubles.
Eight players—Johan Nikles of Switzerland , Mubarak Abdulhameed of Kuwait, Dowson Dal of Australia, Keisuky Numajiri of Japan, Delf Gohlke of Germany, Reyota Kishi of Japan, Amer bin Hassan of Tunisia and Omar al-Awadi of United Arab Emirates— made it to the main round after coming through the qualifiers.
Saad al-Mohannadi, Executive Director of QTF and Director of Qatar Futures tournament, said the QTF is proud of hosting the tournament that has now become a leading event in the ITF calendar. He further hoped that the event will help Qatar players gather valuable experience that will help in making them better competitors. “The QTF is keen on supporting Qatari players to increase the popularity of tennis in the State of Qatar.”