The National Under-12 lawn tennis team is travelling to St Lucia on Sunday to participate in the International Tennis Federation (ITF)/Grand Slam Development Championships which starts on Monday.
The four member team comprising Kalyca Fraser, Sarah Klautky, Vijay Sharma and Antoinne Andries is set for Guyana’s quest for an inaugural champion. Fraser is the only player with multiple Caribbean championship experience while Klautky participated in her first overseas tournament in Antigua earlier this year.
Both of the male players are newcomers. Sharma and Andries replaced top two seeds Heimraj Reusal and Jordan Beaton in the Boys U-12 after the duo delayed return from their summer vacation.
“I am more concerned with the development of the players [which] can give them the opportunity to progress to the highest level,” National Coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan told Stabroek Sport yesterday. She also said that Afruica Gentle came the closest to winning a title and with the work that she has put in with the players of the years she would be elated to return with a champion.
Daly-Ramdyhan, who was selected to coach the team and has held that post since 2006, said the players started preparation on July 14 which concludes today at the National Racquet Centre. “During this period they featured in two tennis camps and were also involved in physical and mental training,” she said. Guyana’s players will compete against participants from 21 Caribbean countries: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, St Lucia (host), Antigua & Barbuda, the Cayman Islands, St Vincent, Aruba, Curacao, Suriname, the Bahamas, Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, Turks and Caicos Islands, Belize, US Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Haiti, Bonaire and Jamaica.
