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Ankle injury cuts Heo’s Noumea stint
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Posted on Jun 28 2008
CNMI wunderkind Ji Hoon Heo and his partner Lorenzo Pineda of Vanuatu forfeited their quarterfinal match against a team from New Caledonia in the 2008 Open Junior BNP Paribas de Nouvelle Caledonie tournament.
The French pair of Olivier Lemaitre and Sylver Schorgen barged into the semifinals of the five-day tournament after Heo wasn’t able to compete because of an ankle injury he sustained in his Round of 16 singles match against Ben Mitchell of Australia.
“I forfeited my doubles match today because of my ankle. I could barely walk but hopefully I’ll recover for the Fiji tournament,” said Heo in an email to the Saipan Tribune last Wednesday.
Lemaitre and Schorgen made it to the quarterfinals after beating Mitchell and Australia’s Barrett Franks in the second round, 7-5, 6-2.
Heo and Pineda, meanwhile, advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph over New Caledonia’s Titouan Gueneau and Loic Pierre earlier in the week.
Heo earlier said he is learning a lot from the tournament in the French territory. He said despite the rollercoaster ride he is happy he will finally get points from the ITF.
Heo accumulated a grand total of 15 points from the tournament.
The Noumea event, which runs run from June 22 to 27, is a Grade 5 ITF Junior tournament which will give 30 ranking points to the champion, 20 to the runner-up, 15 to the semifinalists, 10 to the quarterfinalists, and five to Round of 16 qualifiers.
Aside from the tournament in New Caledonia, Heo will be leaving for Fiji at the conclusion of the Noumea tournament to compete in the 2008 Air Pacific Open Junior Championships. The event in Fiji will run from June 30 to July 5.
Heo will also be leading the North Pacific Team in the POJC, where he will be playing against players from Australia, New Zealand, and selected East and North Pacific bets in the Open Championships.
Heo automatically qualified for the POjC after a runner-up finish in the same event last year, while his other NMI teammates vied for slots in the regional meet through the North Pacific Qualifying Tournament in Guam two weeks ago.
