Last-minute inclusion of tennis draws interest from NMI netters

With tennis now included in the calendar of events for the 2009 South Pacific Mini Games, there is a possibility that the CNMI will have delegates to the quadrennial meet in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association vice president and CNMI coach Jeff Race said there are several NMI netters interested to join the tennis competition in the Cook Islands.

The list include Kana Aikawa and Tim Quan, who are of- island, and Ji Hoon Heo.

“But nothing is definite yet, more talks are needed before we make any decision. We also have to consider the availability of funds,” Race said in a telephone interview with the Saipan Tribune.

“For now, we are happy that tennis is back in the Mini Games,” he added.

Tennis was added in the calendar of events in next year’s Mini Games, replacing bodybuilding. Early this year, Mini Games organizers scrapped tennis from the list due to the lack of facility.

Cook Islands Tennis Association president Damien Beddoes and former president Brian Baudinett worked on the inclusion of the sports during last Sunday’s meeting in Rarotonga after bodybuilding pulled out.

“The biggest challenge for Cook Islands now is to have facilities ready with a short time of preparation. OTF will help where it can,” Oceania Tennis Federation executive officer Patrick O’Rourke said in an email to various tennis federations in the region.

The Mini Games will run from Sept. 21 to Oct. 2 next year and venues are mainly sports fields and rugby fields. The main stadium, the Tereora National Stadium, houses the makeshift tennis courts, which are also used for other sports. An indoor gym is being constructed, but it will be used for netball competitions.

OTF members, like Fiji’s and Samoa’s tennis associations welcomed the sport’s inclusion in the calendar, and are hoping to see a big number of delegates in the tennis competition in the Cook Islands next year.

Early this month, Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael White announced at the NMASA monthly meeting that the CNMI will be skipping the 2009 Mini Games after failing to get commitments from three sports associations.

Athletics, sailing, and golf had earlier expressed their interests to compete in the Cook Islands. But sailing’s Tony Stearns begged off due to personal reasons, while athletics pulled out due to funding problems. Golf officials have yet to inform NMASA about the status of their participation in the Mini Games.

White attended the Pacific Games Council General Assembly last Sunday and was supposed to announce CNMI’s non-participation in next year’s Mini Games. But with the recent development in the calendar of events, White is expected to discuss the possibility of having CNMI netters in the Cook Islands when NMASA meets next week.

White is also expected to disclose at the NMASA monthly meeting the decision on the eligibility rules.

If the council decides to revert to the old rules implemented before the 2007 South Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, the likes of Heo and Aikawa, who are non-U.S. passport holders, but have been or had been longtime residents of the Commonwealth and had represented the CNMI in various off-island competitions, will be allowed to play.

Aikawa together with Race, Quan, and Tim Montgomery competed in the 2005 Mini Games in Palau.

New Caledonia won the men’ and women’s team and doubles events. Samoa prevailed in the mixed doubles, while the Cook Islands’ Brett Baudinett and New Caledonia’s Stephanie Dillucio topped the men’s and women’s singles, respectively.