Riffa Views continues support for Netball event

Riffa Views announced its title sponsorship for the second year running of the Riffa Views Inter Gulf Netball Championships to be held on March 13 & 14th at the Bahrain Rugby Club premises in Saar.

Eighteen teams from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Al Ain and Saudi Arabia will attend next year’s event making it the biggest tournament in the event’s twenty four year history. Six teams will represent Bahrain in addition to five men’s teams from around the Gulf.

Bahrain Netball League Event Manager, Michaela Milne said: “Our partnership with Riffa Views is critical to our success in organising such a huge tournament and we are delighted to have their support again for the 2009 event. We staged a fantastic tournament this year and we’re all working hard to make next year even better.”

The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships is the only international platform for netball in the Middle East and attracts over 350 of the region’s best players for two days of highly competitive play.

Over 150 matches will be played at the Bahrain Rugby Club’s netball courts over the two-day competition. Teams will be divided into three pools for the first stage of the competition to establish rankings. They will then be divided into a further three pools to play for the Championship Cup, Plate and Bowl.

Richard Browning, CEO of Riffa Views commented “This is another opportunity for us to assist in a small way in the growth of sport throughout the Kingdom. We are pleased and proud to be invited to be part of this event for the 2nd year running, which clearly demonstrates the success of this years event and that interest in this sport is increasing. We are keen to continue alongside sports organizations in creating opportunities for our youth to aspire to greater heights in all sporting activities.”

Six teams have been selected to represent Bahrain, the largest number of teams that Bahrain has ever entered into the tournament. Bahrain Netball League Chairwoman, Kate Knapton said: “We’ve been working at a grass roots level with our talented junior players over the last two years. For many of them, this will be their first chance to compete on an international level and they are all looking forward to the challenge. We’ve also had an influx of new players to Bahrain who will add depth to our teams of more experienced players. We look forward to meeting all the teams on our home courts again.”

The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships take place at the Bahrain Rugby Club on March 13th & March 14th 2009. For more information, please visit our website at intergulfnetball.com or contact Michaela Milne on 366 00 308 or kylamilne@mac.com.

Power Players Selected for Bahrain “A” Netball Squad

The Bahrain Netball League announced their final selection of players for the Bahrain A Squad that will compete at the upcoming Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships. Ten players were selected from a pool of 50 hopefuls. The team offers Bahrain a great opportunity of bringing home some silverware at the competition. The remaining 40 players have been divided into the B, C, D and Vets teams.

The selection committee, comprising Dionne Williams, Jo Reed, Kate Knapton and Charmaine Wijeyeratne, has over 30 years combined experience with coaching and developing netball in Bahrain. Squad Coordinator Mel Goosen said: “We had an incredible depth of players to choose from, which is fantastic news for the development of netball in Bahrain. Over 50 players competed for positions on our five squads. They all worked really hard to impress the selection committee which made choosing the final teams a very difficult task.”

Richard Browning, CEO of Riffa Views commented: “We are pleased with the selection of players for the Bahrain A Squad. Our sponsorship aims at encouraging local Bahraini and other players to step up their development with new coaching and hard work. We believe that through this pathway we can support the development of talented rising stars to reach their maximum potential and make us all proud of their achievements during the tournament. We wish all the best to the Bahrain A Squad.”

The Bahrain A squad is made up of young and talented players such as 17 year old Sara Al Otaibi who so impressed selectors that she was promoted from last year’s B squad. Other players bring depth of experience to the team. Captain Beth Nunn and Vice Captain Mel Goosen will be appearing in their 9th and 10th Inter-Gulf tournaments, respectively. Nunn said: “Our experience will certainly be an asset to us. We know to stick to our game strategy when playing against top teams like Dubai A. Our team is extremely versatile and we have strength throughout the court. We are training hard to achieve results and hope to go one-better than our 5th place result last year by making it to the semi-finals. Winning the tournament would be the icing on the cake.”

The Bahrain A Squad will undergo intensive training for the next five weeks culminating with 10 days of coaching by All England netball coaches, Gilly Salter and Liz Banyard who will fly out to Bahrain courtesy of supporting sponsor, Gulf Air.

The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships will take place at the Bahrain Rugby Club on March 7th & 8th.

For more information, please contact Bahrain Netball League Event Manager, Michaela Milne on 3660 0308 or email kylamilne@mac.com.