How desperate do you need to be to go to Sudan for a tennis tournament?

For those who aren't up their world news here is what else is going on in Sudan this week.

Here is the current foreign office advice for traveling to Sudan, I don't know about you but I wouldn't describe participation in this tournament 'essential'.

• We advise against all travel to the Eritrean border, and against all but essential travel to Kassala.
  
  
• We advise against all travel near the Chadian border with Darfur and all but essential travel to Darfur where conflict continues.  Banditry is widespread and great caution is needed when travelling outside the major population centres or at night.  There have been several incidents involving NGO and UN staff and some African Union peace monitoring troops have been killed.
  
  
• We advise against all travel south of Juba in Central and East Equatoria.  We also advise against all travel in West Equatoria within 40kms of the border with DRC.   There have been a number of fatal attacks against people working for aid organisations in areas near to the Ugandan border in southern Sudan.
  
  
• We advise against all but essential travel to all other parts of southern Sudan.  The situation throughout southern Sudan is volatile.  There have been robberies and violence against NGO and UN staff.
  
  
• You should be aware of a high threat from terrorism.
  
  
• The Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005 has effectively brought to an end the north-south civil war.  However, some areas remain tense. Some recent demonstrations have resulted in injuries to protestors.  You should remain vigilant and avoid demonstrations or similar large gatherings in public places.
  
  
• We strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.  You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.  Please see: Travel Insurance.  You should register with the British Embassy in Khartoum on arrival and keep in touch throughout your stay.

I agree Niall, I don't quite understand what motivates players to travel to some of the most dangerous parts of the planet to play tennis !!! There's plenty of other futures on offer. A few weeks ago Alex Slabinsky's friend Ned Boone went to Iran to play a futures tournament and an englishman going over there is effectively playing russian roulette with his life.

Akhenaten where art thou ? Surely you're on tenterhooks for every single result which comes out of that legendary and historic tournament known only as Sudan F1 !!!

James Feaver did well to come through qualifying, he had an impressive win in the final round: 6-1, 6-3 against 2nd seed Michael Levens. Unfortunately all James' hard work is unlikely to result in his 1st ranking point as he's drawn a bit of a short straw in rd1 - the top seed from the Czech Republic ranked 415. Looking at some of the other opponents he could have drawn he must be a little peeved. James is a leftie who trains at Sutton with Nick Weal so he'll know Ed Seator who's also here.

Ed has a great opportunity to get another ranking point, he plays Russian Artem Isaev ranked 1560 with just 1 ranking point. Could face the top seed in rd2 though.

Amadeus' loss isn't quite as shocking as it first appears, although Jurgens Strydom is only ranked 1379 in the seniors, he's 19 and in 2005 reached a high of 64 in the juniors.

Alex Miotto should reach the quarters, he's got either an unranked Sudan wc or an unranked French qualifier in rd2.

The intrepid Irish player John McGahon [I think I've told quite a few people here his story - if I haven't told you, send me a pm] has qualified here, he's got an Iran player in rd1.

Sorry!
I've arrived late in Khartoum to experience this remarkable tournament, Sudan F1.
I thought I'd try and see some of sites of Sudan before the big tournament started, so I arrived a week early, keen to see the Eritrean border and East & West Equatoria.  Ended up in a prison in some place called el-Boggo accused of being a spy. Can you believe it?
Any how, I'm here in Khartoum now. And I'm as excited as a very excited person.

To catch up...
   After yet another triumph in Senegal F1, Komvali Loglo was awarded a hippo from the Chief of his home town of Mango. 
He was quoted as saying, "This is ridiculous. No more hippos!  Please!  I've now got a herd of the them in my back garden.  They've eaten all the petunias, and they've wreaked havock on the pond.  If anyone else tries to present me with another bloody hippo I'll... [best not to print this bit]..... with a mongoose!!!!"
"And what's more, hippopotamus milk tastes disgusting!"

Since this outburst the legendary Loglo appears to have turned his back on top-flight tennis.  He was last seen in Spain, of all places. He played the whole match left-handed, and still won a set.  What a legend.

So anyhow, that brings us nicely up to date, and the world of tennis is expectant, agog, thirsty and slighty stunned as the Sudan F1 roadshow rolls into, er... Sudan.

And the tournament is already heating up.  In fact, I'm on my fifth T-shirt of the day.  I'm sweating like a hippo.

Bogdan Leonte, the big Romanian, will be hoping to repeat his fantastic run of last year when he became the first qualifier to ever win Sudan F1, serving a record 258 aces on route to the title.  Some still think he was lucky to beat Amadeus Fulford-Jones of Gert Briton (someone told me it's actually a province of Austria) in Round 2.  Fulford-Jones was up 4-0 and looked to be cruising to a victory when a freak Sudanese thunderstorm stopped play for 40 days (and 40 nights).  Big Bogdan had heard of the in-coming flood, and had built himself a massive dinghy, filled it with aardvarks and aardwolves (no one's really sure why).  Kept him dry though.  Any way, after the storm a soggy Fulford-Jones never quite recovered and big Bogdan 'stormed' through the match and went on to claim the title.

Sadly the Nearly-Maestro Amadeus has again already departed Sudan F1 early, losing in Round 1 to Namibia's Jurgens Strydom.

-- Edited by Akhenaten at 14:02, 2006-09-17

You genius Akhenaten, that's so funny

I love these bits:

Quote:
"After yet another triumph in Senegal F1, Komvali Loglo was awarded a hippo from the Chief of his home town of Mango. He was quoted as saying, "This is ridiculous. No more hippos! Please! I've now got a herd of the them in my back garden. They've eaten all the petunias, and they've wrecked havock on the pond. If anyone else tries to present me with another bloody hippo I'll... [best not to print this bit]..... with a mongoose!!!!" "And what's more, hippopotamus milk tastes disgusting!" "



Quote:
"Fulford-Jones was up 4-0 and looked to be cruising to a victory when a freak Sudanese thunderstorm stopped play for 40 days (and 40 nights)."



It'd be so funny if Amadeus actually reads that

-- Edited by UltimateFlemingFan at 18:31, 2006-09-14

Well, there are parts of Sudan you would not go to. Really, not go to unless doing aid work and prepared to work with the risks for what you believe in.

I suspect Khartoum is basically safe; it is a way away from the troubles. I suspect safer than Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Lwanda, Freetown, Monrovia, and a few other African big city places. Rather interesting too. And perhaps slightly easier competition than average for those ranking points (even if hot, hot, hot)....

Iran isn't that bad actually.

Chances that tennis players will be attacked just because they are from the West isn't much at all in my opinion.

Happycynic wrote:

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I suspect Khartoum is basically safe; it is a way away from the troubles. I suspect safer than Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Lwanda, Freetown, Monrovia, and a few other African big city places. Rather interesting too.

---

Yes, Khartoum is safe enough, but it's not very interesting.  It was only founded in 1821, so it's not got much history, and has since turned into a massive, very brown city.

And it's been raining again, it's supposed to stop by Tuesday!

Good news for Big Bogdan though he's through to the 2nd round with a easy victory over the Frenchman, Viale.  After the match Bogdan finished off building his new project - a steamboat, and set about capturing as many alligators, albatrosses and anacondas as possible, and forcing them on board.  Some tennis players have the strangest of hobbies.

Despite Bogdan's triumph last year, the Sudanese bookies are reporting a massive amount of money going on the intense Czech, Adam Vejmelka.  Best known for his scientific approach to the game, and for his 12 hour training sessions.
Vejmelka keeps notes on every player on the tour, leaving absolutely nothing to chance.  In Round 1, Vejmelka plays Ingland's James Feaver, and has worked out the following equation...
V = 2.67T + 2.3*(4/SK - 7j) cubed.
Given that knowledge, I'm now sure most people could now beat James Feaver. 
Sorry James, I might have just ruined your career.

The damp Khartoumian crowds livened up during the big all-Sudanese match-up of Sadig and Sidig, though it was hard to tell which of them they were shouting for.  Sadig eventually won in a titantic 3-set battle.  He was later quoted as saying, "so who won?"

I'm praying the rain stops soon.  My T-shirt collection is wet-through for two reasons now.

-- Edited by Akhenaten at 13:52, 2006-09-17