Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: Tennis enthusiasts in Oman are finding it increasingly difficult to compete in tournaments because of a lack of competitions across the nation.
The reason for the dwindling number of tournaments is because the Oman Tennis Association (OTA) charge high fees from tournament hosts, making it very difficult for them to cover their own costs.
While hotels are charged as much as OMR. 500 from the OTA every time they host a tournament, recreational clubs in the country are being asked to fork out upwards of OMR. 300 per tournament.
The fee was first introduced in 2006, following which hotels and clubs had little option but to cancel plans for any future tennis tournaments.
“When we asked them for justification for charging, they (the OTA) said ‘we will provide you with umpires and any technical assistance that you might need to organise the tournament’,” revealed a high-ranking source at a local sports club in Muscat.
But the OTA did not send any umpires to oversee the tournament, because the club had their own manpower. This was also confirmed by a senior tennis coach at one of Oman’s upscale hotels.
“There is no return, nothing” reveals the coach. “It especially made it hard for people who used to play in tournaments. We didn’t pay them (the OTA), and since that time we have stopped open tournaments.”
However, another hotel manager said they did receive umpires in exchange for payment. “We stopped having tennis tournaments in 2010. For us, we used to get the referees,” he said.
According to rules laid out by the International Tennis Federation, the global governing body for the sport, in exchange for fees paid to local federations, they will need to cover pre-agreed costs of investments such as tennis courts, tennis balls, prize monies, umpires, referees and ball boys, as well as expenses towards trophies and advertising.
Consequentially, this has seen Oman’s youth unable to display their talents locally, potentially sharply reducing the number of tennis players who could represent Oman in the future.
“Locally, unfortunately, the tournaments are not there. If you have the talent, they should be given a platform to perform and prove the talent,” said the club source.
“With no tennis, we won’t get players,” adds the coach. “Nobody will be interested to play seriously, or grow in Oman.”
The club source reveals that he didn’t have to pay the fee again. “I remember (saying), ‘in our continued efforts to promote the sport at junior level among Omani players and communities in Oman, we would like to organise the open junior tournament this year as well,” he confirms.
Until last year, the OTA were conducting monthly junior tournaments, but this has since been discontinued because their courts are undergoing renovation. “People have to pay a five Rial membership fee and if you are a member of the OTA, then you get information about the junior monthly tournaments. Based on the results of the monthly tournament, they have a ranking system,” says the club source.
“For some reason, it’s gone for more than a year that the courts have been dug up. They could’ve hired alternate courts somewhere or the other,” he adds.
However, the number of players registered with the OTA is very small, a fact that is clearly visible when one looks at the events organised by the source’s club.
“Our tournaments, the numbers have been growing from year to year and a lot of Omanis have been coming forward,” he explained. “One reason is because of the paucity of other tournaments in town.”
In response to the interest people previously showed for tournaments, however, the coach says there is plenty the OTA can do to boost tennis in the nation.
“We didn’t get any support from the federation to make tennis grow in Oman.How can you make tennis grow in Oman, without tennis courts and without clubs?” asks the coach.
Despite the opposition to the practices carried out by the OTA, a senior official at one of Muscat’s tennis academies said otherwise.
“Usually, if there is a tournament at local or national level, then yes, that should be registered with the Oman Tennis Association,” revealed the source. “In our case, the events are organised with our customers. These are kids who compete in our academy so we have nothing to do with them."
“There are more and more young Omani kids who are picking up this sport,” added the source, “The associations which are in charge of tennis, they have to have a tax or fee for such events. The Oman Tennis Association is right to charge for these events. They are the entity that secures tennis in this country.
“The reason there are no tournaments in Oman these days is because of a lack of facilities. We don’t have enough tennis courts because the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex is under renovation.”
However, Salman Al Balushi, the Executive Manager for the Oman Tennis Association, was quick to shed light on the issue.
“We have rules for the clubs and the hotels,” he explained. “The clubs, the fee is 250 rials. The last year, the Indian Social Club, we didn’t take fee from them. There is a chance for Oman’s tennis players (to develop) in the tournament, so we did not take the fees.”
Al Balushi was also quick to refute the claims of the hotels. “We sent letters to the hotels who do the tournaments, (stating) that we at the OTA would help them,” he added. “We don’t take the fees if we see our players playing there.”
“The hotels do not agree to do tournaments because they say they don’t get marketing, don’t get business,” he continued. “This 250 rial fee is if they say they need the help of the OTA. These are the rules of OTA. If the hotel comes to us, we will not tell them, ‘please bring 250 rials and then you do the tournament”.
Al Balushi also expanded on the interest in tennis tournaments across the nation, addressing the state of the tennis courts at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. “If you have a car without tyres, how can you drive the car?” he quipped. “The maintenance is not finished. We think in December of this year, we’ll get the courts. Next year, we will push local tournaments.”
“We have seven clubs across Oman. We started with the juniors from six to 10 years, and three months ago, we had a big tournament at Bashayer club. All seven clubs came there to play.”
“We need to move tennis forward,” he concluded.
