Oman's No 1 player Fatma al Nabhani was the cynosure of all eyes at the annual awards ceremony of the Oman Tennis Association (OTA) that was organized on Monday.
The ceremony was organised for players who brought laurels for Oman at various international and regional events in 2015.
Currently ranked No 381 in the world, Fatma led Oman to gold and silver medal wins in team events at the GCC Women's Games in Muscat and the Islamic Games in Indonesia. She also swept to an individual gold at the Islamic and the GCC Women's Games.
Along with Sarah al Balushi, Fatma also claimed a gold in doubles at the GCC event and a bronze at the Islamic Games. Besides Fatma and Sarah, the other girls honoured were Samar al Bakry and Maryam al Balushi, who were part of the gold medalwinning team in Muscat.
Maryam and Samar had also won bronze in doubles at the GCC event, while Maryam took a bronze in singles.
In the boys' category, Abdullah al Barwani (bronze at the GCC U18 meet) along with Younis al Rawahi, Zakariya al Suleimani, Ammar al Khanjari, Muneer al Rawahi, Eyad al Khanjari, Ali al Sarhani and Abdullah al Raisi, were also honoured for winning bronze at the GCC U16 and U14 events.
The awards ceremony was attended by Mutassim al Zadjali, the OTA's chairman, in the presence of board members, Ministry of Sports Affairs officials and parents of the awardees. He said, “These annual awards presentations are a token of appreciation for our players who did the country proud. This is our way of encouraging the players to do well in the future events.”
Fatma seeded No 1 at Glasgow meet
Fatma al Nabhani has been given the pride of place at the Aegon GB Pro-Series Glasgow-The Scottish Championships, which be played in Glasgow, UK from February 1-7.
The US$10,000 prize-money tournament will be played on indoor hard courts and the Omani No 1 player will take part in both the singles and doubles events. She will team up with Germany's Annz Zaja in the doubles.
At world No 381, Fatma is the highest-ranked player at the meet and has been seeded No 1.
Fatma has been training in Muscat over the past few weeks under the watchful eyes of German coach Patrick Ewald.
Fatma hopes to earn a wild card qualifying spot at the Dubai WTA Open (February 15-27) and the Qatar Open (February 21-27).
