Forty-five Barbadians are among 148 entrants in the Tourism Development Corporation-sponsored 2011 Barbados Junior International Tennis Tournament which will be held from next Monday to Friday.
The announcement was made yesterday morning at the National Tennis Centre by president Raymond Forde and vice-president Sandra Osborne.
Turé Skinner, Matthew Hutchinson, Dylan Hall, Zachary Jones, Gregory Hinkson, Djori Weekes, Brandon Lee and Simon Lewis are in the qualifying draw and some have been given wild cards into the main draw.
Skinner, who is ranked 1 400th in the world, and Hutchinson, are based in Miami, Florida.
Two Barbadians are in the women’s main draw. Melena Lopez (ranked 1 330th) is Barbados’ top female in the main draw, and she will be joined by Ancia Ifill (No. 1 534), who is also based in Miami.
Among the Barbadian females in the qualifying round are Kiana Marshall, Michaela Batson, Samiya Dottin and Cherise Slocombe.
They are all in the Under-18 division which will be played at the National Tennis Centre.
There are ten spots – four qualifying, four wild card and two by special exemption – into the main draw for both boys and girls.
The majority of Barbadian players are in the Under-14 competition which will be held daily at the Barbados Yacht Club.
This year, players from 25 countries are taking part in the 18th tournament, the majority of them from the Caribbean and Central American Region. Eight are from Canada, with others from Europe.
The top seeds are Boris Arias (No. 192) of Bolivia and Renata Arshavskaya (No. 312) of Russia.
“I think that we are all ready to go. Everything is on place and our officials will be in place,” Osborne said.
Several Canadian players were getting in court time under the watchful eyes of coach Hiroud Akhavan.
“The timing seemed to fit well. There has been a history of a couple Canadians playing here and it is a great environment to come and play in,” he said.
Matches will begin tomorrow with the qualifying rounds.
