Young guns blazing in basketball, tennis

Young athletes made last week’s headlines with 18-under cagers in the 2008 Saipan Rotary Club Youth Basketball League playing in the opening week of the league and the CNMI Junior Tennis Team showing impressive performance anew in another tournament in Fiji.

The Rotary caging opened Monday night with last year’s runner-up Southern Sonics stunning the defending champion CNMI Junior Nationals, 71-64, in their first meeting since the former lost to the latter in the 2007 finals.

Both teams lost key players from their rosters last year, but the Sonics found newcomers who stepped up and gave coach Jesse Tudela a good start in the 18-under caging.

Six more teams debuted in the Rotary last week with the Garapan Rollers I, the San Antonio Sixers, and Kontenders joining the Sonics in the win column.

The G-Rollers I hammered sister team the G-Rollers II, 87-42, the Sixers topped the G-Stars, 65-52, and the Kontenders beat the Suns, 48-36.

The CNMI netters returned to Saipan last week after completing their second tournament in Fiji.

Making their marks in the Oceania Plate tournament were Christian Miller and Rafael Jones, who moved into the semifinals of the Boys’ Junior division.

Miller was undefeated in five games in Pool A to set up a semis meeting with Jones, who finished second in Pool B with a 4-1 record.

Miller won the all-CNMI semifinals, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, but unfortunately failed to play in the finals against Fiji’s Devin Khatri, as they needed to catch a return flight to Saipan. The finals and consolation matches were set Wednesday morning and the CNMI team left Lautoka early Wednesday morning.

Jones and Miller along with Dina Jones, Mayuko Arriola, and coach Jeff Race arrived on Saipan early Thursday morning. Before the Oceania Plate tournament, the CNMI team led the North squad to a runner-up finish in the 2008 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.

Thea Minor and Ji Hoon Heo, who are also members of the team, are still in Fiji training for separate tournaments. Minor is going to New Caledonia, while Heo is headed for Japan.

Games in the Rotary caging last week were played early evening, preventing suspension of matches due to power outage. The Inaugural PTI Inter-Government/Business Basketball League was not as lucky as the youth league, as it continues to suffer due to a power outage.

Only three games were completed and the rest were either suspended midway through the match or cancelled even before they get started.

The ongoing finals series in the 208 Budweiser Saipan Major League baseball are also affected by the power outage.

The Ford Rangers won Game 3, 9-3, Monday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-three series. Game 3 was first played, two Sundays ago, but was halted due to a power outage.

A few minutes after Game 3 ended, the Rangers and Rock Steady played Game 4. The score was 8-3, with Rock Steady leading at the top of the ninth when the power went off forcing the rescheduling of Game 4, and Game 5, if possible, on Friday.

But it rained Friday, suspending Game 4 anew. Saipan Tribune called organizer Tony Rogolifoi for the new schedule of the series, but he has yet to respond as of press time.

There was also power outage at the Marianas High School Gymnasium Wednesday night. But fortunately, Tomas Santamaria of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball was done with the first session of his weeklong volleyball coaching clinic.

The clinic, which will continue this week aims to develop volleyball and beach volleyball in various national federations from all over the world, except Europe, by providing courses for young players, coaches, and referees.

It is also part of the FIVB’s Volleyball World Vision 2012, which envisions national federations and confederations to become the most professional organizations, each one at its one level, with modern, flexible, and efficient administration under a professional management setting.

In other events, Saipan’s Felix Sasamoto and Morito Asai topped the Rudder Fish Category of the 4th Annual Marianas Underwater Fishing Federation Spearfishing Challenge after their 4.93-lb catch; Saipan Swim Club resumed its training; and Rod Hodges won Saipan Golf Association’s August Ace.