Anthony Downes captured his seventh consecutive Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry men’s Open lawn tennis title after defeating Daniel Lopes in straight sets in the just concluded tournament held at the National Racket Center tennis court.
Downes who has been quite prominent on the local scene, participating in his first men’s singles final since he was a 14- year-old, has battled with other top players such as Phillip Squires and Jeremy Miller over the years.
The Open champion, who is now 25-years-old, is hoping to hone his skills and further his tennis career through playing future tournaments internationally and may play his first such tournament in August in Colombia, on the back of his recent success.
Other outstanding performers in the tournament were 16-year-old ladies champion Afruica Gentle, who once again carted off three Open titles, adding the ladies doubles and mixed doubles to her singles triumph while Leyland Leacock won the men’s 35 singles and men’s Open doubles title.
In the junior categories, Jordan Beaton was the winner of the boys singles title while Kalyca Fraser captured the girls singles.
The presentation ceremony which was immediately followed the final match, was attended by Acting CEO of GBTI Shaleeza Shaw and Marketing Manager Pamela Binda. Shaw stressed the importance of their partnership with the Guyana Tennis Association which was renewed eight years ago and commended the association for the progress shown with developing the sport locally which sees opportunities being given to youths to spend their time productively and develop their skills.
Meanwhile, President of the GLTA Jamal Goodluck in his remarks commended the tennis fraternity for coming together in making the tournament a success which saw 122 matches being played over two weeks but bemoaned the fact that there were still instances of unsportsmanlike behavior cropping up which needs to be corrected.
List of Prize Winners:
Men’s Open Singles: Winner: Anthony Downes, Runner Up Daniel Lopes
Ladies Open Singles: Winner: Afruica Gentle, Runner-up Kalyca Fraser
Boys Singles: Winner: Jordan Beaton, Runner-up: Joshua Kalekyezi
Girls Singles: Winner: Kalyca Fraser, Runner-up: Sarah Klautky
Men’s 35 Singles: Winner: Leyland Leacock, Runner-up: Andre Lopes
Men’s 45 Singles: Winner: Godfrey Lowden, Runner up Alexey Almeida
Novices Medley Singles: Winner: Delon Fraser, Runner up Surendra Khayyam
Men’s Doubles
Winners: Daniel Lopes/Leyland Leacock
Runners-up: Anthony Downes/Jason Andrews
Ladies Doubles:
Winners: Afruica Gentle/Cristy Campbell
Runners up: Shelly Ramdyhan/Fiona Bushell
Mixed Doubles
Winners: Anthony Downes/Afruica Gentle
Runners-up: Daniel Lopes/Sarah Klautky
Men’s 35 Doubles:
Winners: Andre Lopes/Sandeep Chand
Runners up: Godfrey Lowden/Ronald Murray
Men’s 45 Doubles
Winners: Godfrey Lowden/Omar Persaud
Runners-up: Albert Razick/Steve Surujbally
