23 youth netters to compete in Guam’s Chamorro Open

Elliot

The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association will be taking a team of 23 junior players to Guam for the Chamorro Open Tennis Tournament, which will have its junior division this weekend at the Guam National Tennis Center in Dededo.

NMITA president Jeff Race said the CNMI delegation would be made up of 15 boys and eight girls tennis players.

The 15 boys junior netters are Jimin Woo​, Andy Kim, ​Jun Wang, David Kwon, ​Cody Shimizu, ​Simon Tang, Wataru Kadokura​, June Yu​, Nason Wessel, Henry Choi, ​Taher Shakir, ​Yutaka Kadokura, Ian Chae, ​Ryan Choi, Jihun Park, ​and Eamon Tang.

The eight girls junior netters are ​Hye Jin Elliot, ​Serin Chung, Savita Sikkel, ​Anna Kwon, ​Irin Chung, Hoo Wang, ​Hannah Chae, and ​Lina Tsukagoshi

Irin Chung said after off-island tournaments were pretty much off the table due to COVID-19 the past couple of years she’s glad that they can fly to Guam this weekend and compete in the Chamorro Open.

“I am very excited to go compete in Guam since it is my first time. I was supposed to go to Guam two years ago for the Northern Pacific Regional Championships but that didn’t happen because of the pandemic,” she said.

Woo

Elliot echoed Chung’s sentiments, adding that it’s a relief that they can finally go to an off-island tournament since her last tennis trip outside of the CNMI was 2019.

“I am really excited to go off-island to be able to compete because I will be able to challenge other players,” she said.

David Kwon said he too is excited to finally play in the Chamorro Open in Guam.

“I’m so excited to play in Guam. I think it’s been three years. I just wanna play my 100% that I will not regret it after,” he said.

Top boys junior netter Jimin Woo said like Kwon he hasn’t played in an off-island tournament since 2019.

“I am very exited since the last time I played a tournament off-island was almost three years ago.”

Woo likens the anticipation he now feels for the Guam trip to what he felt six years ago when he went to compete in New Zealand.

“I played a few tournaments in New Zealand which was the last time I played competitively off-island [not counting Guam],” he said.

Race said he would use the Chamorro Open as a barometer to gauge the play of the CNMI’s top junior netters.

“I’m just going to be looking at the results as an indicator of where we are at right now,” he said.