Tennis talent on show

The youngsters will get the opportunity to show their worth at the International Tennis Federation (ITF)-sponsored 14 and Under Development Championship from August 27 to September 3 at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo.

And hosts, Trinidad and Tobago will have the privilege to field eight players as opposed to four last year.

At a media launch of the tournament at the Tennis Association of Trinidad and Tobago’s head office, Ana Street Woodbrook, tournament referee Anthony Jamerson revealed that Trinidad and Tobago will be fielding two teams — an “A” and “B” team.

But he pointed out that only the country’s first team players, that is the “A” team will be eligible to contest for the overall championship title.

The “B” team players, Jamerson said will participate in the play-off for the purpose of development and experience.

The “A” team will comprise Gomez Liam, Jovani Lewis, Ray-Ann Sandy and Lee Ann Lingo and will be coached by Rodney Ross.

The “B” team is Luke De Caires, John Lutchman, Kaegan De Silver and Nalini Maharaj.

The tournament is being held in Trinidad and Tobago under the auspices of the Tennis Association of T&T and has attracted 13 teams so far.

Among the teams expected are defending champions Barbados, Aruba, Bermuda, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Netherlands Antilles, St Lucia, St Vincent, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and the host nation.

According to Jamerson the singles will be conducted on a round-robin basis on the opening two days and will progress to the main event which will be held over the following four days, using the feed-in consolation system. Jamerson said the singles play-offs will be the best of three sets, with a third set or tie-breaker used to determine the winner. However the doubles event will be a knock-out competition.

The ITF has contributed US$10,000 towards staging the tournament with some of the top players expected to receive scholarships.

This will involve an opportunity to attend an international camp, or an overseas tournament.

The winning team will get the ITF Trophy which they will keep for a year. The champions will be determined by the team that accumulates the most amount of points at the end of the competition.