I.T.F. East Pacific Regional underway
Four countries, including the host Samoa, are competing in the 2018 International Tennis Federation Juniors East Pacific Regional Championships.
The tournament commences on Monday 9th April, 2018.
The teams are Tonga, American Samoa, Cook Islands and Tahiti. The tournament comprises of three age groups, with top four finishers to represent the East Pacific conference for the upcoming Oceania Junior Championships to be held in July, in Fiji.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi greeted and welcomed all the players, officials and managers during an opening ceremony at the Samoa Tourism Authority fale.
This was followed by the singles competition at the tennis court at Apia Park.
According to International Tennis Federation and Development Officer for Pacific Oceania, Gary Purcell, the only challenge so far for the tournament is the weather.
“We started all the singles age group matches on day one (Monday), but we only had about a round for each age group and then rain started pouring in.”
“But today (yesterday) we started early at 8:00am and it was good start to the day because we haven’t had any rain the whole day.”
“We are heading into qualifying stages of most of the age groups, and then we will be having doubles and team’s competition over the few next days.”
The International Tennis Federation Juniors East Pacific Regional Championships is looking to host their final stages this coming Friday.
Mr. Purcell commented that all the players are enjoying the tournament so far, especially most of them already met in the previous tournaments.
He also added all the players are looking strong and determined with the high level of sportsmanship’s witnessing from these young tennis stars.