The Marshall Cup will finally get under way next month.

Back on the Brunei Darussalam Tennis Association (BDTA) calendar after more than five years, the tournament was supposed to be held early February but was postponed due to poor response.

In an email sent to the Press yesterday BDTA tournament-secretary Abdul Rasheed Abdullah said the competition will be contested from October 29-31.

The venue has changed from the Brunei Tennis Club (BTC) in Berakas to the Brunei Shell Recreation Club in Kuala Belait.

The competition will see five men's doubles matches contested. There will also be a ladies competition in which three ladies' doubles matches will be contested.

Participating clubs will be split into two groups, with the winner of each group to compete in a play-off in the final.

Deadline for entries is at 5pm on October 26.

With the competition already being held off once because of a lack of registration, Abdul Rasheed said he isn't sure what kind of numbers the event will attract.

"None of the teams are confirmed yet," he said yesterday.

"I just sent the invites today (Monday) so I'm not sure how the feedback will be like yet.

"Will it be the same response as the Butcher Cup? Maybe yes, maybe no. We're holding it at BSRC this year though ... It's fair and square (all clubs get the chance to host the tournament)," Abdul Rasheed added.

Another inter-club competition, the July 30-Aug 1 Butcher Cup saw three new clubs compete.

The Royal Brunei Armed Forces team was joined by the Department of Internal Medicine from the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (Ripas) Hospital and Total ELF Petroleum as the fresh faces in the local competition.

Abdul Rasheed hoped the trio would send entries once again.

As usual, the National Tennis Centre at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas and BTC will be expected to feature, as will hosts BSRC.

All matches are based on two tie-break sets, final set or third set tie-break points only. Final matches will be best of three tie-break sets.

All BDTA affiliated clubs are invited to send their teams to compete.

Rules of International Tennis Federation (ITF) rules will apply and players from participating teams are not allow to play for other teams in the tournament besides their own respective team.

All teams must come 15 minutes before the start of every match, failing which they will concede a walk-over.

Team line-ups are at the discretion of each team captain, not necessary in order of strength.

Players from participating teams are not allow to play for other teams in the tournament besides their own respective team.

Teams that wish to join but do not pay any fee to be affiliated with BDTA are required to pay $100 per team to participate.

Interested clubs can contact BDTA by fax at 2381205 or by email; abdrasheed2009@yahoo.com.

They can also contact Rasheed (8872351) or assistant tournament secretary Izannie Abu Bakar (8719340).

Courtesy from Brunei Times