Qatar’s Rashed Nawaf claimed the second place at the 57th edition of Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship held in Miami from December 14-23.
The Annual Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship is one of the most important and prestigious junior tennis tournaments in the world. It is one of five tournaments that are rated by the ITF as ‘Grade A’. This globally recognised event brings together over 1,500 of the top ranked male and female 12-and-under and 14-and-under junior players representing more than 76 countries. 
In the final match, Nawaf suffered a 6-4, 6-3 defeat at the hands of the USA’s Nishesh Basavareddy.
“I’m proud of taking the second place in prestigious tournament as it was really an exciting week for me,” said Nawaf.
“I think the semi-finals which lasted for more than four hours had its toll on me during the final match,” he said. 
In his route to the final, the Qatari player edged past Rodrigo Mendez in the semi-finals, Lennon Jones in the quarter-finals, Nikita Filin in last 16 round and Benjamin Kreynes in the last 32 round. Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation and Head of National Teams Committee board member Khalid al-Khelaifi has praised Naswaf’s achievement.
“The federation is proud of Nawaf’s achievement as he is the first Qatari player to take the second place in Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship,” he said.
“Nawaf proves year after year that he is a promising player who can go the extra mile for the Qatari tennis in the near future,” he said.
Nawaf won the title of Qatar Asian Junior Championship last month in Doha.
Andre Agassi, Arthur Ashe, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Justine Henin, Ivan Lendl, Hana Mandlikova, Andy Roddick, Gabriela Sabatini, Monica Seles, Guillermo Vilas and Mats Wilander have also competed at the Orange Bowl.