Source: www.newsday.co.tt
By: Jonathan Ramnanansingh
SECRETARY OF the Tennis Association of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), Jacqui Castillo congratulated the new 2011 National Open Tennis Championship Singles winners on their stellar performances at the recently concluded tournament.
Castillo, who was also involved in the annual competition, praised all the winners of the respective categories. Even though both top singles seeds in the male and female categories, Yohannsey Williams and Carlista Mohammed were eliminated, Castillo agreed that this showed great emerging talent in TT tennis.
“I would like to personally congratulate Dawoud Kabli and Lee-Anne Lingo and all other winners of title matches. This is good for the sport and shows that we have upcoming talent in Trinidad and Tobago who can rise to the occasion,” said Castillo yesterday.
She added that the results of this year’s tournament proved it was an unpredictable and evenly contested competition. Castillo also expressed her satisfaction with the attitude and general behaviour of the local players.
“Everyone thought it was easy to predict the winners of divisions. The results show that there were no expected and pre-determined winners. However, we have new champions this year and it goes to show that the standard of tennis has been raised in Trinidad and Tobago. We are happy with the results,” revealed Castillo.
She explained that the critical change of venue for the tournament was a great beneficiary for the players and spectators alike.
The competition was forced to move to the Country Club courts, Maraval due to the high rent prices for the use of the Eddie Taylor Public courts, St Clair, by the Port-of-Spain City Corporation.
Castillo explained that spectators were privileged to have a better view of all the courts at the Country Club and this was a major advantage.
“There was some scepticism early on about the move to Country Club. However, we cancelled all doubts and held a great and successful tournament. We got good feedback from a lot of people and we know that we’ve prevailed successfully. They were especially happy about the clear viewing of the courts,” added the TATT secretary.
Castillo revealed that there were no incidents at the venue and was pleased to have a safe tournament.
“There were no complaints from anyone about this year’s competition. The advantages at Country Club have more than out-weighed the disadvantages. We’re glad that the entire event was incident-free,” stated Castillo.
The TATT secretary added that she would like to see more female players enter the local circuit and participate in tournaments.
Castillo felt that Lee-Anne Lingo has set the bar to a new level and hopes her victory influences and motivates more younger females to join the tennis discipline.
Castillo concluded, “We’re hoping to have a National Inter-club Tournament later down in the year. Currently some of our younger players are preparing for the JITIC tournament and we’re expecting some good performances.”