The three-member Guyana national Tennis team that participated in the ITF-sponsored 13 and under Championships in Trinidad and Tobago returned home after finishing 9th out of 16 countries.
The players Daniel Lopes, Gavin Lewis and Nicola Ramdyhan performed creditably according to Coach Shelly Daly Ramdyhan, who reckoned that it was one of Guyana’s better performances over the years.
Lewis returned with the best result, placing 10th from a field of 27 players, while the other male Lopes, ended 19th and Ramdyhan finished 11th in the competition that had 15 players.
Daly-Ramdyhan speaking with Kaieteur Sport said that the players are showing consistent improvement all the time and attributed the progress to their increased appearances at tournaments overseas.
“The kids are improving all the time, as they keep going out, they’ve been getting better,” Daly-Ramdyhan admitted. She said the steady development has also been recognised by certain ITF officials who spoke to them individually and even encouraged them to continue in the same vein.
The Coach reasoned that with the creation of more facilities Guyana could experience a positive growth in the sport. “I feel that if more facilities are made available, we could see even better results than those we’re having right now,” she pointed out.
Daly-Ramdyhan spoke of how the players are more focused right now and are really excited to compete in tournaments, a turnaround from previous years where they felt intimidated against opponents.
“They were able to compete against the best, especially Lopes, who had a really tough draw, but still showed a lot of fight against all his opponents.”
She said what was also noticeable was that they’ve overcome the nervousness that was evident in the past and felt that it was due mainly to knowing their opponents better as well as being more accustomed to playing at the international level.
“You could see the increase in confidence and they are more eager to train even harder now when they return home despite the results,” Daly Ramdyhan noted.