By Abdellatif Sharah
Kuwait: The General Assembly of the Arab Tennis Federation elected Sheikh Ahmad al Javert al Abdullah al Sabah as the next ATF president for 2022-2026 at a conference held in Kuwait. Also, Kuwait’s candidate for Secretary-General Fale al-Otaibi was elected. Dr. Salma Mouelhi (from Tunisia) was elected Vice President of Africa and Ayman Azmi was elected Vice President of Egypt. Raymond Salem (Lebanon) has been elected Vice President for Asia.
Five candidates for the ATF Board have been elected. Ishaq Ismail (Algeria), Khalid Naffaa (Jordan), Dr Maha Jarad (Palestine), Khalid Talaat (Sudan), Nasser Al-Marzouqi (UAE). The General Assembly was attended by record from 18 Arab countries. They include: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunis, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Palestine, Kuwait, the host country.
Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber welcomed the attendees. He said the ATF is making new moves with the support of all affiliated federations, arguing that Arab tennis sports need more attention and acuity in their development. In addition to preparing a program for the development of sports through coordination with international and continental federations, he asked members to focus on the basics of the game and organize more tournaments.
Al-Jaber is proud and pleased with the achievements of Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who ranked second in the world and second in Wimbledon. This was the first and most important Arab achievement in history. “Here is your role in supporting and demonstrating more effort so that you can see the Arab players achieve what the ounce has achieved,” said Al Jaber. He wanted more help in exchanging “wildcards” to participate in tournaments in the Arab world. “Our goal is to see more Arab players of both genders on the World Ranking List,” he added.
