Kyle Gilgeous of West Field Preparatory and Ema Vasconcellos of Marian Academy, emerged as the Boy and Girl ‘MINISLAM’ u10 Champions respectively, when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA), staged its ‘Christmas Interschool RED BALL’ competition.
Hosted at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, Gilgeous clinched the Boys accolade, edging Kemo Prince of Buxton Youth Developers due to his superior win-loss percentage, after both players ended the final round on two wins out of a possible three.
The other two players who competed for the title were Alleyne Embrack of St. Agnes and Justin Leitch both of the Buxton Youth Developers.
Meanwhile, Vasconcellos secured the title in a division that featured nine competitors, securing wins over Sienna Sookram of Marian Academy, Byanka Young of New Guyana School and Kayesha Harding of St. Margaret’s in the final round.
Young finished in second place with two wins, while Harding ended in the third position with a solitary win. In total, 26 players competed in the tournament across both division from eight schools. The other two competing institutions were St. Pius and Winfer Gardens.
According to a release from the GLTA, “The tournament was conducted by National Junior Coordinator Shelly Daly. Round Robin format was used because it is premised on frequency of play as participants get to face multiple opponents to increase the number of matches played to help build confidence and skills. The trophy for Best School was copped by Buxton Youth Developers having satisfied the criteria for enthusiasm, determination and consistency in developing tennis as a sport at their school as well as their participation and performance in the inter school competition.”
The release added, “After eleven years of existence in primary schools the Guyana Tennis Association chose to rename its mini-tennis program to MINISLAM to pique interest and to cater for new thrusts for tennis as a recreational sport in community development. In this regard, the association continues to appeal to authorities to make facilities available nationwide for the development of the sport both as a recreational activity and for high performance programs. The next MINISLAM U10 Schools REDBALL competition for Georgetown will be held on March 16th, 2018 at the National Gymnasium.”
