Junior tennis players Aretta Dey, Nicola Ramdyhan, Daniel Lopes and Judah Stephney have been selected by the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) to attend the World Junior Tennis pre-qualifying competition in Santo Domingo from March 14 – 19.
Participating for the second time, the group will attend the event along with Coach Shelly Ramdyhan.
The tournament will serve as a qualifier for youngsters hoping to participate in the next World Junior Tennis Championships.
Last year a five member team, that included boys’ number one seed Gavin Lewis, attended the event.
However, having surpassed the age category, Lewis will not be attending the tournament this year.
Except for Stephney all the members on the team participated last year.
This year the team is optimistic but coach Ramdyhan pointed out that the weather has been playing it’s part in putting a damper on practice sessions leading up to the tournament.
“We have been putting a lot of emphasis on practice but the rain has been really affecting us. We’re not getting to practice as much as we did for last year’s tournament,” Ramdyhan said.
Nevertheless the players still remain confident, with both Nicola Ramdyhan and Dey certain that they could better their last year performances.
“I’m hoping to do better than last year. I think I could make it all the way. But it’s the weather, we haven’t been able to practice as much,” said Dey.
In aid of raising funds for the trip the association will be hosting a hot dog and burger sale on Wednesday.
The event will be held on Vlissengen Road a few houses north of Survival Supermarket and the association is bidding the public to come out and support the worthy cause.
The players are scheduled to leave on March 12 and return on March 20. (TG)
