Junior tennis players leave for TT

Aug 15, 2009 Sports

– Much improvement cited

Nicola Ramdyhan displays the trophy she won after winning the 12 and under title at the ITF Coca-Cola Championships.

A 3-member tennis squad will leave tomorrow for Trinidad and Tobago (TT) to participate in the ITF-sponsored 13 and under Development Tournament which is scheduled to run from August 17-23.
The three players Daniel Lopes, Gavin Lewis and Nicola Ramdyhan will be accompanied by National Coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan.
According to Coach Daly-Ramdyhan, she expects the team to do well at the tournament following a creditable showing at the just concluded ITF Junior Championships which was staged in St. Lucia.
“I’m expecting them to perform if not at the same level they produced at the St. Lucia event even higher and I say this because they are more confident now both in terms of improved skills as well as mentally,” Daly-Ramdyhan told Kaieteur Sport last Thursday at the National Park.
She added that she is anticipating good results from the boys especially, predicting that they should reach into the main draw.
The Coach disclosed that some 15-17 countries are expected to participate in the tournament which has ranking points at stake.
Meanwhile, Daly-Ramdyhan reporting on the team’s performance at the ITF Coca-Cola Tournament which was held in St. Lucia she said that she was heartened by their performances which saw her daughter Nicola capture the Girls 12 and under title.
“Judging from the last tournament they attended in April in Barbados where they failed to make it past the qualifying rounds I can definitely say that there have been tremendous improvements,” the Coach mentioned.

National Coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan (left) poses with the junior team shortly after a practice session at the National Park last Thursday.

She pointed out that the 18 and under category is where a lot of work still needs to be done.
“I say this because in that division there are a lot of players from around the world who are high up in the rankings and they play far more consistently than our players,” Daly-Ramdyhan reminded.
The Guyana team was made up of (Boys 18’s)- Anthony Downes and Jeremy Miller; (Girls 18’s)- Aruna Ramrattan and Tracy Azeez; (Boys 14’s)- D. Lopes, G. Lewis, Khalif Gobin and Benedict Sukra; (Girls 14’s)- Krystal Sukra and N. Ramdyhan, while Ramdyhan, also qualified for the 12 and under category.
Guyana was required to enter the qualifying rounds in the 18’s category and none of the girls managed to make it to the next round, while the boys made it to the second round of the qualifiers.
In the 14’s division, the players were placed in groups and both Lopes and Lewis topped their respective groups to make it to the main draw, while the girls were not so fortunate.