By Sports Reporter/Doha

Qatar Tennis Federation president Nasser Ghanem al-Khelaifi said yesterday that Dubai hosting the Premier 5 WTA tournament next year will not affect the Doha event.
“Both the tournaments will continue,”al-Khelaifi said yesterday at a press conference celebrating Total E&P Qatar’s association with the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) from the very first WTA tournament in 2001.
Dubai and Doha will alternate for the Premier 5 and Premier tournaments going forward.
Al-Khelaifi also thanked HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for his continued support for sports in the country.
“I am thankful to HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for his big support to sport in general and tennis in particular. I also thank the Minister of Sports HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali and Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) general secretary Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani,” al-Khelaifi, who is also the president of French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, said.
“We are very proud to renew our co-operation with Total Qatar,” he said referring to the renewal of the WTA tournament’s sponsorship contract for further three years. “They have been with the tournament since 2001. We are always trying to push for our tournament to be one of the best in the world. Top seven of top ten players playing in our tournament is good. I also thank all the previous presidents of the Federation for their work to improve this tournament.”
Total Qatar managing director Guillaume Chalmin said, “We have been involved with the tournament since 2001 and step by step we have seen the tournament grow to become one of the biggest tournaments.
"We are really proud at Total with our sustained partnership with Qatar Tennis Federation. We have renewed the partnership to sponsor the National Junior tournament in January and this is an opportunity for us to reinforce our relationship with the Federation in future.”