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Flashback: All-NMI duel in Fiji
Ji Min Woo, seen here competing in a local tournament, played in the boys U16 singles finals in last year’s Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji. (Saipan Tribune)
One year ago, on this day, Ji Min Woo showed no love lost to fellow CNMI player Sean Lee after winning their playoff game in the boys U16 singles division in the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji.
Woo took the opening set, 6-4, and was given the outright victory in the second, as Lee, who was nursing a fever could not continue the match, With the win, Woo marched into the semifinal round where he faced Tahiti’s Brandon Fong.
A 6-2, 6-3 triumph against the Tahiti bet brought Woo to the title game versus Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy. Unfortunately, Woo missed the championship in the singles division after Mainguy swept the finale.
Woo also made it to the title match in the doubles play after teaming up with Lee. The CNMI duo outclassed Fong and Vaitea Molinier in the semis, 6-4, 3-6, 10-5, to reach the finals, which Solomon Islands’ Junior Miki and Mainguy eventually won, 6-2, 6-1.
Meanwhile, this year’s POJC has been rescheduled from August to Oct. 14 to 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qualifiers for the annual tournament have yet to be determines, as the regional competitions (for North, East, and West teams) have been reset because of the crisis. The North Pacific Regional Championships where the CNMI participates was supposed to take place in Guam last month, but has been moved to September (5 to 9).
