A major initiative is on to revive the indigenous sport of road tennis in Barbados, and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment will be leading the way with the hosting of two major national road tennis tournaments.
The initiative will kick off with the National Road Tennis Independence Knockout Tournament, which will be held simultaneously across all 30 constituencies in Barbados on November 30 – Independence Day.
The National Road Tennis Independence Knockout Tournament will follow a single game eliminator structure, where the winner advances effectively over five rounds. There are 16 placements for males, eight for females and 16 for juniors in the tournament.
At the end of the tournament, there will each be 30 adult male, adult female and junior champions, and second to fourth place winners sharing a prize purse of well over $100 000.
Constituency Adult Champions will receive $1,000 each and Junior Champions will receive $150. All games are slated to start at 10:00 a.m.
Participation is by registration, and the first persons registering in each category, in each constituency, will qualify to be part of the competition. Registration opens online on Friday, November 19, on the National Sports Council’s website, www.nsc.gov.bb. All participants must show proof of address.
The second tournament will be a national championship, which will be held in early January 2022.
It will carry first, second, third and fourth place prizes of $20 000; $15 000; $10 000, and $5 000, respectively. The quarter finalists will each receive $2 000.
The two-part initiative twins with Barbados’ move to take its indigenous sports to the world, with efforts on at the moment to promote road tennis in the Caribbean, Dubai, Panama, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
All COVID-19 protocols will be in place for the tournaments. (BGIS)
