Al Hassani wins one-year Prince sponsorship deal

UAE national Khalid Al Hassani of Al Ain Club was among the most shocked tennis players at the prize presentation of the second Emirates Sports Stores Open tennis tournament held at the Pharaohs Club late on Wedn-esday.

When his name was announced as the winner ofa one-year complete tennis sponsorship from Prince, Al Hassani was too amused to move from his seat and receive the prize from Mansoor Falaknaz, director of Emirates Sports Stores.

"I'm so happy with this prize. I cannot believe that I have won such a big prize," the 12-year-old told Gulf News.

"This is a big boon to me," he said with resolve written all across his face.

Emirates Sports Stores, the dealers for Prince, handed over a one-year sponsorship to the UAE national player for winning the under-12 competition at the second ESS Open tennis tournament.

The deal includes racquets, balls, T-shirts and full playing kit for a period of one year to help any UAE youngster to achieve his tennis goals.

"It's something that comes to us naturally after being involved with the promotion of the game here for such a long time," admitted Hamdan Sulaiman of sponsors ESS.

"Our idea is to give the UAE nationals proving themselves an added incentive and I think we have done just that by signing this one-year contract with Khalid, who has such a promising future," he added.

Khalid is the fourth of the famous-five combination of Al Hassani brothers hailing from Al Ain. Led and inspired by eldest brother Ghanim, the rest of the siblings – Hamad, Saeed, Khalid and Faris – have donned the club colours for the past few years now. "Ghanim is the reason why we have all taken up to tennis," Khalid admitted.

The 12-year-old shy kid took to the game when he was just six. And he definitely has come a long way since then. "I want to do things one step at a time," Khalid said.

"I want to first target the GCC-level competitions, then migrate to Arab contests and then finally eye the world stage," he stated.

With U.S. superstar Andre Agassi as his role-model, the Grade VI student felt that he can do wonders with his game by "learning all the time."

"I want to keep learning at all times. I am ever grateful for all the support I have been receiving from my coaches (Majdi Azzam and Redha Bussada) as also from Al Ain Club officials Ahmed Sultan and Abu Salem along with the board of directors of Al Ain," Khalid acknowledged.

"I want to be the best and with all the support I amgetting, I think I am wellon my way," he concluded.