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It was a busy three weeks at one of the oldest clubs on the island with sportslovers enjoying two international tournaments overlapping one another.
The Indian Club was the venue of its 61st open tennis tournament, which began on November 17 and ended last Friday, along with the Bahrain Air International Series Badminton Tournament which began on December 2 and ended on Sunday.
On the club's indoor badminton courts, more than 70 players battled it out for a total prize purse of $5,000 (BD1,860) in five categories - men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
Jaffer Ebrahim and Putri Variella made history, winning Bahrain's first-ever international titles as the International Series wrapped up on a rainy Sunday night.
Ebrahim, who has a world ranking of 35, and Variella first teamed up to claim the mixed doubles title, and then Variella sealed a superb double by adding the women's singles crown.
In the other divisions, Iran's top-seeded Ali Shahhosseini bagged the men's singles, India's Anees Aneefa and Sanave Thomas claimed the men's doubles, while the Iranian pair Negin Amiripour and Sahar Zamanian Nejat pocketed the women's doubles.
Bahrain's players featured in the finals of four of the five categories - their best-ever showing in a Badminton World Federation and Badminton Asia Confederation event.
At the club's refurbished tennis courts in Manama, Pakistan's Davis Cup player Aqeel Khan retained his title defeating his Indian opponent P C Vignesh 6-3, 6-3 in a well-contested super singles final.
There was good news for home fans as national team head coach Essam Abdula'al bagged a treble by winning the veteran men's singles and doubles as well as the men's singles titles.
In other categories, the Bahraini tandem of Khaled Al Thawadi and Abdullatif Mohammed bagged the men's doubles crown, while Bulgaria's Rali Hristova claimed the women's singles by defeating Bahraini youngster Marwa Mohammed.
Meanwhile, Khalid Mosawi stunned top seed Yusuf Qaed to pocket the under-18 boys' singles title in a match that lasted 95 minutes.
The 1,532-ranked Khan, who won both his group matches before defeating the UAE's Mahmoud Nader in the semi-finals, banked on his experience of playing in Bahrain last year by overcoming the his younger Indian challenger.
Badminton sponsors: Bahrain Air (title sponsor); IPS Trade Middle East (major sponsor); McGrow Group (golden sponsor); co-sponsors - Alpha Fire Services and Olayan Kimberly Clark.
Tennis sponsors: Bahrain Financing Company (main sponsor); Qatar Airways (official airline); co-sponsors - YK Almoayyed, RSA Insurance, BMMI and Sharif Group.
