AIMING HIGH

SOME of Bahrain's most talented tennis players have rallied round to help a young expat ace achieve his professional dream.

Ross Henson, 16, who was recently featured in GulfWeekly, has taken time out from St Christopher's School's sixth form for a year in order to train and play tournaments for a full season.

He needs to travel with his coach to achieve world ranking points to get direct entry into the main draw of international tournaments.

His dad Adrian said: "Ross is now spending most of his time in match-play training with the top Bahraini national players at the Bahrain Tennis Federation.

"Ross gets on well with all the guys and it just goes to show the fantastic Bahraini support he is getting."

Ross, from Saar, has been playing since the age of four and won the BBK Under-14 National Tennis Championship in Bahrain.

Abdul Rahman Shehab trains with Ross currently from 9 to 11am from Mondays to Wednesdays and all the top men's singles players join in, including the island's number one Khalid Al Thawadi, 21, number nine Bader Abdulaal, 37, and number 15, Hassan Abdul Nabi, 19.

Hassan's brother, and Bahrain's number eight Abdul Karim Abdul Nabi, 20, will also be training Ross for another four hours a week.

Support is also starting to flow financially to help Ross cover the travel and coaching costs involved in the venture.

Firstly, American Express has given 50 per cent of the funding needed, a sum of BD6,000. And Zen-Do Bahrain founder Suhail Al Gosaibi is allowing Ross to train at his kick-boxing school twice a week for nine months worth BD500 and a great aid for Ross's fitness and conditioning.

The Dilmun Club Tennis Section has donated BD75 and LMG (Bahrain) donated BD100. A gift of BD100 from supporter Michael Cowling also swiftly followed.

Ross still needs BD 5,725 to hit his sponsorship target of BD 12,000 to complete his tournament schedule as follows:

Grade 5 Qatar ITF, Doha December 28 - January 5

Grade 5 UAE ITF, Abu Dhabi, January 18-26

Grade 5 Sri Lanka ITF, Colombo, February 11-16

Grade 5 Spain ITF, Torneo, April 1-6

Grade 5 Turkey ITF, Istanbul, June 23-29

Grade 5 Ireland ITF, Donnybrook July 23-27

Grade 5 Ireland ITF, Rushbrook July 30-August 3

Grade 5 Jordan ITF, Amman, August 5-8

Grade 4 UAE, Dubai, October 6-11

To support Ross call 39932253.