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Marianas Team Cup set this weekend
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Posted on Jun 16 2021
Tahiti’s Heimanarii Lai San, seen here in an undated file photo, will play for Team 3 in the senior division of the Marianas Tennis Invitational Team Cup at the American Memorial Park this weekend. (Contributed Photo)
The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association will be holding the Marianas Tennis Invitational Team Cup at the American Memorial Park this weekend.
The team event, which is a first for NMITA, will feature competition in the senior and junior divisions with each category having five squads apiece.
Team 1 in the senior division is made up of T.J. Bellama, Colin Ramsey, and Serin Chung, while Team 2 has Moris Villanueva, Jun Wang, and Tania Tan. Heimanarii Lai San of Tahiti and a member of the University of South Carolina men’s team in the National Junior College Athletic Association will lead Team 3 and will play with Andy Kim and Hye Jin Elliot. Samoa Pacific Games participant Ken Song and Malika Miyawaki will join David Kwon on Team 4, while Team 5 will have Jimin Woo, Sean Lee, and Metropolitan State University-Denver standout Isabel Heras, who also represented the CNMI in the Pacific Games in Samoa in 2019.
In the junior division, June Yu, Si Woo Lee, and Savita Sikkel are on Team 1, while Wataru Kadokura will join forces with Simon Tang and Anna Kwon on Team 2. Cody Shimizu, who won in NMITA’s last local junior event of the season (boys U14 singles), will have Eamon Tang and Irin Chung as teammates on Team 3, while Daniel Kang, Yutaka Kadokura, and Helen Kim are on Team 4. Completing the junior division roster are Nason Wessel, Ki Won Lee, and Hoo Wang of Tam 5.
Both divisions will have a round-robin format and five points are at stake in each match pairing with the squad to first earn 3 points winning the duel. All three players on the team will play one singles game, while there will also be a men’s doubles event and mixed doubles. The team with the most points at the end of the round-robin play wins the division. NMITA will award prizes to the Top 3 teams in each category.
The Marianas Tennis Invitational Team Cup will sort of prepare NMITA for the hosting of the tennis event in the 2022 Pacific Mini Games. The competition will also feature players that will vie for slots on the CNMI national tennis team that will see action in next year’s Mini Games.
