La Hunn, Nason win boys 14 doubles

La Hunn Lam, right, and Nason Wessel receive their boys 14 doubles championship
trophies after topping the age group during the awards ceremony of the 2023 Pacific
Oceania Junior Championships yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s boys 14 doubles team of La Hunn Lam and Nason Wessel won their division in the 2023 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji.

Lam and Wessel, the No. 1 seeds, won an all-CNMI finale in the boys 14 doubles after beating Ryan Choi and Siwoo Lee, 6-1, 6-3.

Henry Seungwoo Choi and June Yu then capped the CNMI’s very successful last couple of days in Fiji by winning third place in the boys 16 doubles after overcoming Samoa’s Darius Carruthers and Titus Paul in a super tiebreaker, 6-0, 6-7, 10-7.

Top seeds Hiva Kelley and Keanau Lei Foc of Tahiti won the age group after beating No. 2 seeds Jonathan Jackson of Guam and Erwin Tayshawn of the Federated States of Micronesia, 7-5, 6-7, 16-14.

Anne Lee and Lina Tsukagoshi, meanwhile, salvaged fifth place in the girls 14 doubles after downing Samoa’s Maryallyson Vaai and  Nualelai Vaai, 7-5, 5-7, 10-6.

In the girls 14 doubles finals, No. 1 seeds Mia Chang of Tahiti and Raetea Rongo of Cook Islands triumphed over Alisha Kanegai and Ashanti Ligo of Vanuatu, 6-1, 7-5.

Ryan Choi, left, and Si Woo Lee receive their boys 14 doubles trophies after finishing second in the age group during the awards ceremony of the 2023 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Irin Chung and Hoo Wang then settled for fourth place in the girls 16 doubles after dropping a 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 match against  Abygael Coeuillet of Vanuatu and Pauline Hyun of Papua New Guinea.

In the finals of the girls 16 doubles, second seeds Mehetia Boosie and Tavero Chung of Tahiti got the better of Fiji’s Josephine Debalevu and Sina Izumi, 6-1, 6-2.

In the boys 16 doubles Simon Tang and Cook Islands’ Luke Pierre dropped to sixth place after losing to PNG’s Phyongil Justus Tollowe and Sugar Ray Hakena, 6-2, 6-2.

CNMI Sports Hall of Famer and national coach Jeff Race is mighty proud of his wards’ performance in Fiji.

“We had a rough start in this POJC but in the end we did pretty well. Anytime you can grab a singles title here is a good year.”

Fortunately the good times didn’t stop there.

“The first and second place in the boys 14 doubles is icing on the cake. Also the boys 12 which is a team event did really well. They ultimately placed fourth, but were only two points from beating Vanuatu in pool play and finishing first in their pool and could’ve beaten Guam for third. I’m really proud of their performance,” he added.

Race was assisted in the POJC in Fiji by Colin Ramsey, former POJC campaigner himself and currently the No. 1 singles player in the Commonwealth.