The New Year hasn’t been a very happy one for the National Sport Council’s Inter-Parish Road Tennis Championships as inclement weather continues to hamper the competition’s progress.
Things were no different on Saturday night at the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) headquarters, when a sudden and heavy downpour brought proceedings to an abrupt end an hour and half after a slightly delayed 7:30 start.
And similarly to what happened on Friday night at the Vauxhall courts, where that semi-final was also rained out, not even the laying of several tarpaulins over the court’s surface could stop the rain from soaking through onto the court, resulting in the event being postponed.
It meant that matches in the eagerly anticipated “A” and “B” class divisions as well as the Under-21s had to be rescheduled.
The appreciative crowd which turned out wasn’t entirely disappointed however, as they still witnessed several entertaining matches before the rain came.
In the night’s first game, St Michael’s Justin Hinds brought nine year-old Kajay Sealy’s fairytale run in the 15 and Under division to an end, registering a 21-15, 21-14 victory to advance to the finals.
It was always going to be an uphill task for the diminutive Sealy, a clear crowd favourite, against a bigger and more skilled opponent.
And despite a valiant performance, which saw him battle back from down 5-14 in the first set and 9-20 in the second, Sealy fought back well to bring some respectability to the final score.
St Michael’s veteran female player Sandra Bailey also booked her place in the coming weekend’s final with a workmanlike 21-9, 21-13 victory over St James’ Juliette Worrell.
She broke open a close 7-7 scoreline in the opening set, to administer the evening’s first sow, as Worrell regularly committed unforced error after error.
Worrell did give a slightly better account of herself in the preceding set, but it was never going to be enough to topple the former female champion.
The heavens then opened up with Darius “Barracus” Gaskin of St Michael leading St Thomas’ Kyle King 14-10 in the first set of their Under-21 match, sending patrons scampering for cover.
Earlier, a new BDF champion was crowned when Aaron Douglas defeated defending champion Terry Smith 21-16, 23-21 in an exciting encounter.
After easily wrapping up the first set, Douglas seemed headed for an easy straight sets victory, as he held a comfortable 20-13 lead over Smith.
But some complacency by Douglas, coupled with some attacking tennis from Smith allowed him to lock the score at 20-20.
