RIFFA Views will once again sponsor the Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships to be held on March 13 and 14th at the Bahrain Rugby Club premises in Saar.

Eighteen teams from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Al Ain and Saudi Arabia will attend next year's event making it the biggest tournament in the event's 24 year history.

Six teams will represent Bahrain in addition to five men's teams from around the Gulf.

"Our partnership with Riffa Views is critical to our success in organising such a huge tournament and we are delighted to have their support again for the 2009 event. We staged a fantastic tournament this year and we're all working hard to make next year even better," said Bahrain Netball League event manager Michaela Milne

The Riffa Views Inter-Gulf Netball Championships is the only international platform for netball in the Middle East and attracts over 350 of the region's best players for two days of highly competitive play.

Over 150 matches will be played at the Bahrain Rugby Club's netball courts over the two-day competition. Teams will be divided into three pools for the first stage of the competition to establish rankings. They will then be divided into a further three pools to play for the Championship Cup, Plate and Bowl.

"This is another opportunity for us to assist in a small way in the growth of sports throughout the Kingdom," said Riffa Views CEO Richard Browning.

"We've been working at a grass roots level with our talented junior players over the last two years," Bahrain Netball League chair-woman Kate Knapton

"For many of them, this will be their first chance to compete on an international level and they are all looking forward to the challenge."

For more information, please visit our website at intergulfnetball.com or contact Michaela Milne on 366 00 308 or kylamilne@mac.com.