Other events (esp. Iran) - week 6

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Other events (esp. Iran) - week 6

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

G5 Iran:

R2 Boys: Karim NAJIA (GBR) [9] 6-0 6-0 Ali SHEIKHI (IRI)

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 12th of February 2016 05:31:03 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

In Mexico:

Lucca TAKEDA BAPTISTA (BRA) [11] 6-1 6-2 George DAVIS (GBR)

And in Iran:

Boys R3:

Karim NAJIA (GBR) [9] 6-0 6-1 Gianluca QUINZI (ITA)

Girls R2:

Donia ABDEL-AZIZ (GBR) [2] 6-3 6-2 Prathyusha RACHAPUDI (IND)

Both are through to the quarter-finals

(They're also through to the quarters in the doubles)

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 12th of February 2016 05:31:25 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Two more wins in Iran, with Karim taking out the top seed :

Boys QF

Karim NAJIA (GBR) [9] 6-2 6-3 Christian LINGE (NOR) [1]

Girls QF

Donia ABDEL-AZIZ (GBR) [2] 6-1 6-1 Shamira AZZAHRA (INA)

Donia+ also won their doubles QF (Karim lost his)

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 12th of February 2016 05:31:42 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Our presence in Persia seems to go from strength to strength:

Boys Semifinal

Karim NAJIA (GBR) [9] 7-5 2-6 6-2 Mohammad KAREGARAN (IRI) [3]

Karim is only 15, born 2000. And this is already his best results by far. Well done.

Girls Semifinal

Donia ABDEL-AZIZ (GBR) [2] 4-6 6-3 6-3 Ghazal PAKBATEN (IRI) [4]

And great to see Donia get a few wins under her belt - it's been a while.

Donia and Russian playing partner are also in the doubles final.

So GB presence in three out of four finals

paulisi · Tennis legend

Two out of three.
Karim won the singles and Donia the doubles

DavidC · Tennis legend

Karim switched nationality from UAE, who he represented at under 14 level, and plays most of his tournaments in the Middle East

Boys F

(9) Karim Najia d. (4) Armin Rostami (IRI) 6-3 6-2

Girls F

(1) Runa Ichinose (JPN) d. (2) Donia Abdel-Aziz 6-2 6-2

Doubles F

Abdel-Aziz/Plotnikova (GBR/RUS) d. (2) Ichinose/Schmid (JPN/GER) 6-4 6-1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well done to the two mentioned above !

Boys Final:

Karim NAJIA (GBR) [9] 6-3 6-2 Armin ROSTAMI (IRI) [4]

Girls Final:

Runa ICHINOSE (JPN) [1] 6-2 6-2 Donia ABDEL-AZIZ (GBR) [2]

Girsl Doubles Final

Donia ABDEL-AZIZ (GBR) / Sofia PLOTNIKOVA (RUS) 6-4 6-1 Runa ICHINOSE (JPN) / Lara SCHMID (GER) [2]

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Does anyone know anything about Karim Najia?

I look him up and one version says he's British, living in Dubai, lovely video of him in training there, (very good technique) ....

The other version says he's been the UAE champion for several years, has an Australian mum, a Lebanese dad, was thinking of changing nationality from UAE to Lebanon, but decided against it.

Oh, and is fully funded by Just Falafel (you've got to smile).

Does anyone know any more precisely his nationality/story/background ?

Mega congrats to him, of course, it'll be a BIG ranking rise - do hope he's in Brit tennis to stay, he's in an excellent programme and seems to be doing very well.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Karim helped his Suffolk school year boys team win the AEGON Team Tennis Schools competition last year. He is on a tennis scholarship there. Karim must have changed nationality from UAE between 1 and 2 years ago.

DavidC · Tennis legend

On checking I see that Karim played under the British flag in late 2013, earlier than I thought.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Thanks, David. I even wondered if it was two separate boys - the pictures didn't look very alike although, with the same name, age (pretty much) and tennis, in Dubai, the chances of two seemed almost non-existent.

I wonder if he was at boarding school in the UK ? As this article says he's been living in Dubai since 2001, from the cradle, it says. It also says he has joint French and English nationality, with Lebanese parents (although the other one said his mum is Australian, and then I found one that said she's half-French, half-Aussie. I also found one saying the dad is 'British of Lebanese extraction).

www.thenational.ae/sport/uae-sport/karim-najia-is-a-cut-above-the-rest

But this one says he played for the Junior Davis Cup, for Lebanon.

lfigp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Karim-tennis.pdf

Anyway, the PSS Academy video is here:

www.youtube.com/watch

(Also saw that Karim was hitting with Andy Murray)

I will now stop stalking poor Karim

and just wish him every success with his tennis, for whichever country he wishes to play for (although Britain would be nice !)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

In the Nike National Tour Finals U14 this weekend:

Indianna Spink def. Anna Chesca, and

Harry Wendelken def. Alexander Maggs

BradMarx90 · County player

I've done my best to collaborate all the information about Karim into one article:

britennis.com/2016/02/15/karim-najia-the-multi-national-british-tennis-starlet/