Letters to the editor

Dear Stan, I would just like to thank GulfWeekly for its fantastic article on Ross playing on the International Tennis Federation circuit on October 3.

My 16-year-old son has just returned from the Dubai ITF Tournament where he qualified for the main draw by beating a top Argentinian player 7-5, 6-1.

He then played a 17-year-old Czech Republic player and lost to this very experienced world-ranked player who is trained by the same coach as Martina Hingis.

As a result of reaching the main draw Ross was able to team up with an Austrian player to play in the doubles event and in the second round lost to the number 4 seeds, both aged 18.

Ross is gaining fantastic experience and needs to train and play continually at this level in order to progress. To do this he needs to travel with his coach to achieve world ranking points to get direct entry into the main draw of the international tournaments.

The players that are gaining the points have financial support from their federations. Ross is being very well supported by the Bahrain Tennis Federation, but understandably gains no funding as he is not a national of Bahrain. As he is also a British national living abroad he can gain no support from the UK. So he needs a private sponsor, or sponsors that support the international community, to cover these needs.

Ross will more than likely withdraw from school for a year in order to train and play tournaments for a full season to gain valuable ranking points. This is a big decision, but one that is necessary to achieve world ranking.

If there is a company or companies that can support Ross, please contact Dan Barrie on 39697114 or me on 39932253.

Adrian Henson, Bahrain

Dear Stan,

I read with interest the ‘Eid Special’ report in GulfWeekly last week and was encouraged by the attempts of so many Bahrainis, home and abroad, to ensure the true meaning of  Eid Al Fitr lives on as a family affair of loving, sharing and giving.

It reminds me of similar sentiments shared by Christian families in the UK who are fed up about Christmas becoming too commercialised.

It was with some disappointment to hear from an acquaintance, who works at a well-known hotel, that every room of his establishment was filled by single men who travelled to Bahrain to “celebrate” Eid.

I wonder what happened to their thoughts of tradition and family togetherness.

A.D. Manama.