BY ROMULUS HUTA
SOLOMON Islands Tennis Association (SITA) will be organising a competition for the local juniors this Easter weekend at the Multipurpose tennis court.
The competition will be played on two days – Saturday and Monday where will see its conclusion.
SITA Development Officer Ian Honila confirmed that the competition will open on Saturday and will be closed with the presentation on Monday.
Honila said they are looking at hosting more than 50 participants who will compete in the round robin and the singles elimination.
Participants will compete across five categories namely under-8, under-10, under-12, under 14 and under-16 and according to their designated stages which include red Stage, orange stage, green Stage and the development group stages.
Honila explained those competing in the under-8 and under-10 categories will play round robin matches while those ones in the under-12, under 14 and under-16 will compete in the singles elimination.
Registration fee stands at $20 per participants and Honila stated that the competition will be conducted on an individual event basis.
“We’re looking at 50 plus kids to be part of our two-day event.
“Prizes will consist of medals from Gold, Silver and Bronze, and most improved player which is also a medal.”
Honila expressed that the competition will also be used to select potential representatives for this year’s West Pacific Regional Qualifiers.
“Yes, we will use this tournament as one of our selection criteria for the upcoming West Pacific Regional Competition (WPRC).”
The West Pacific Regional Qualifiers is a competition sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and organized by the Oceania Tennis Federation (OTF).
The Qualifiers will be held from April 30 to May 5 at the Oceania Regional Tennis Center at Lautoka and will be attended by young competitors from Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Norfolk Islands and host nation Fiji.
The competition features round robin play to determine entry into the main draw and play-offs for places in each of the under 12, 14 and 16 age categories.
Top players emerging from the qualifiers will be chosen to represent the West Pacific team, who will compete at the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships (POJC), which will be held from July 23 to August 1 in Fiji, against teams from the East and North Pacific regions.
The POJC is the region’s flagship elite junior tennis event.
