By Stan Szecowka
SCHOOLBOY tennis ace Ahmed Mohammed is touring youth clubs and sporting venues with his sponsors Y K Almoayyed Infiniti bearing gifts and urging young sportsmen to aim for the top.
He called into the Dilmun Club in Saar to meet members of the expat club’s youth football teams trained by Lee Mack and playing in the highly-competitive Charles Russell Under-12s Football League.
“It’s great to meet young people, support their efforts and encourage them to play and enjoy sport,” said Ahmed, from Isa Town, who this week celebrated his 15th birthday.
“I started playing tennis 10 years ago and I love the game.”
The youngster was recently crowned champion of the Boys’ Under-14 Singles category in the 18th BBK Junior Open Tennis Championship, hosted and organised by Bahrain Tennis Club in Juffair.
Ahmed lived up to his billing as his division’s number one seed after comfortably defeating second-ranked Mohammed Fazli of Pakistan 6-1, 6-0 in their group final.
It was a stunning win for Ahmed, who rose to the challenge on the biggest stage with an ‘inspired performance’. Ahmed’s straight-sets demolition of his opposition earned him a rare double to finish this year’s BBK competition.
Ahmed also already won the crown in the Boys’ Under-14 Doubles category, teamed up with Turkish playing partner Mert Ekici, making him the only player to come away from the competition with two trophies in hand.
His trek around the clubs is being organised by the Y K Almoayyed Infiniti team as a way of introducing the tennis star to children of all nationalities to inspire more youngsters to take up a sport. He handed out branded T-shirts and hats to the children he met and chatted and posed for photographs with them all.
The schoolboy also showed off his soccer skills with a game of head tennis with the Dilly’s ace sharpshooter Robbie Mack.
The Dilly team is playing in the inaugural league competition featuring sides representing the Bahrain Rugby Club, St Christopher’s School’s Sparta Academy, the British School of Bahrain Academy, Celtic Nomads and the British Club Bahrain.
The law firm, based in the Bahrain World Trade Centre, will present the Under 12s league trophy to the winners in June. Clive Hopewell, partner at Charles Russell, said: “Sponsoring such an important initiative demonstrates our commitment to the Bahraini community and, in particular, the development of sports awareness and participation amongst youths.
“Charles Russell has a leading sports practice internationally and a strong association with football in particular. Clients range from the English Football Association to leading international clubs and players. We are delighted to have the opportunity to be involved at a grassroots level at such an inspiring time for the Middle East.”
