Bahrain’s place as an international sporting venue of choice was further confirmed as the participating teams in last weekend’s Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships unanimously voted for Bahrain to host next year’s championships.

The event, held at the Bahrain Rugby Club, was declared a triumph by all 20 participating teams from around the Gulf, including the defending champions and winners, Dubai Duty Free ‘A’, as well as the visiting England squad.

The event was one of the best in Bahrain’s sporting calendar with 128 matches and 256 umpire slots, said an official spokesman.

“The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships was a resounding success and the standard of play was outstanding. I’ve already spoken to our title sponsor, Riffa Views, who are as delighted as we are that the final will remain in Bahrain for another year. This gives us great scope to further improve the tournament and to raise its profile even further throughout the international netball community,” said Bahrain Netball League event manager Michaela Milne.

“Dubai Netball would like to thank Bahrain for an amazing weekend on and off the court. Our main aim this year was to win the cup, but it proved to be a much more difficult task than we anticipated with the standard of netball in the Gulf region improving every year,” said Dubai Duty Free ‘A’ player and Dubai’s Netball chairwoman Kelly Cook.

The busy weekend also included the finals of the Bahrain Junior Open table tennis tournament, in its second successive year, whose participants, morale was boosted by the recent news that Bahrain has been given the honour of hosting the next World Junior Table Tennis Championship in 2011.

Bahrain’s reputation as an excellent sporting venue just continues to grow, a fact that was also apparent at last year’s “Riffa Views Tennis Festival”, under whose umbrella Bahrain hosted the Riffa Views’ Asian Under 14 Series Championships – the first country in the Middle East to do so. Anil Khanna, President of the Asian Tennis Federation, confirmed that it was the best Championships in 22 years.

“The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships is the latest in a series of sporting events which are adding to Bahrain's reputation as an outstanding events organiser, both regionally and internationally. Sponsorship plays an important role in attracting a sustainable international sporting presence to Bahrain, and Riffa Views is proud to be part of this momentum. All of this is great news for Bahrain and the dedicated sportspeople and organisers who have trained and worked with passion to achieve this success,” said CEO of Riffa Views Richard Browning. – TradeArabia News Service