Winners of the Trophy Stall Doubles Tennis Tournament were yesterday presented with their trophies when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) held the presentation ceremony in the Cambo Room of the Georgetown Sports Club.
Graced by the presence of Director of Sports, Neil Kumar, and with a sufficient audience present, a successful execution of the ceremony was ensured despite the absence of several awardees and the tardiness of others.
President of the GLTA, Christopher Ram, stated that the absence of so many of the awardees was really a disappointing gesture on their part.
He added that it gave an unenthusiastic insight into their commitment to the sport and did not say much about their appreciation of the contribution made by the sponsor, Trophy Stall.
Ram said that despite the fact that the tennis fraternity was a small one, the successful collaboration of affiliated associations and greater participation of all involved could make tennis in Guyana work.
Ram stated that though he did not want to focus on the low points and challenges of the Association he had to mention that the lack of cooperation from those involved was a huge hindrance to the sports development.
Kumar in his address greatly commended the GLTA’s progress actions and spoke highly of Ram’s “investing approach” towards governing the sport.
Kumar stated that when he first took up his position in the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports some 16 years ago his original relationship with the GLTA could be described as “one of the worst” but under Ram’s control he said he was able to amend his relationship with the association.
Consequently, Kumar noted that, himself and the ministry were dedicated to assisting the association in their pursuits in whatever way the ministry could.
“One of the reasons I’ve begged for money for the GLTA is because I believe that it has a lot of qualitative stakeholders. We (the Ministry) try to help as much as possible in whatever way we can,” Kumar conveyed
Kumar further stated the many commitments that the Ministry has bee making towards the sport, which includes the erection of two “spanking” tennis courts, and the donation of equipment for the sport.
The players each received a trophy for their respective category. The winners of the tournament are as follows: Anna Ramrattan and Shawna Gentle, girls doubles with Nicola Nicola Ramdhyan and Krystal Sukra the runners up.
In the boys’ category winners were Daniel Lopes and Gavin Lewis while runners up were the Longe brothers.
In the mixed doubles Ezra Sue-Ho and Shawna Gentle copped top place while Philip Squires and Anna Ramrattan were the runners up.
In the men’s Doubles Philip Squires and Godffrey Lowden won the top spot and Gilbert Barckoy and Leyland Leacock were the runners up.
In the men’s 55 and over winners were Maxie Fox and Steve Surujbally. The runners up were F Mc Lean and Brian Fung. For the men’s 45 and over winners were Omar Persaud and Godffrey Lowden, runners up were Maxie Fox and Steve Surujbally.
In the men’s 35 and Over Don Singh and Sanjeev Datadin prevailed while Omar Persaud and K Eversely were the runners up.
