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Junior netters find new practice facility
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Posted on Sep 07 2021
Serin Chung is relieved that a new practice facility has opened for the CNMI’s junior national team bound for the 2021 North Pacific Regionals Championships in Guam next month. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)
CNMI junior tennis players no longer have to share practice times with recreational players at the American Memorial Park. This, after the management of Crowne Plaza Resort made their tennis courts available for the islands’ up-and-coming netters.
“All the players and parents, including myself, very much appreciate the efforts of the Tan family in making it possible to continue the tennis program until things get back to some semblance of normal,” said Northern Mariana Island Tennis Association president Jeff Race.
Crowne Plaza Resort, formerly the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan, is owned by TanHoldings Corp.
The CNMI’s top 18-and-under players Serin Chung and Jimin Woo couldn’t be happier with their and their teammates’ current access to the tennis courts of the Garapan hotel.
“Being able to practice during this time makes a big difference. We are so grateful to be able to use Fiesta’s courts,” said Chung.
“We are thankful that Fiesta let us use their courts,” added Woo.
Chung and Woo are two of the 28 junior tennis players set to represent the Commonwealth in the North Pacific Regional Championships set in Guam this coming November. Aside from junior netters, candidates for the CNMI national team for next year’s Pacific Mini Games also need a facility to train.
The past couple of years saw the number of the islands’ tennis courts go down to nine with Pacific Islands Club Saipan’s tennis courts in San Antonio becoming the latest scratch as it is being used as one of the hotels in the CNMI’s travel bubble with South Korea.
Race earlier said with the loss of PIC’s four tennis courts, the island is down to the four tennis courts at American Memorial Park, two at Hyatt Regency Saipan, and one each at private residents on Navy Hill, Capitol Hill, and Anak’s Homes. The number now increases with the two tennis courts at Crowne Plaza back online.
The tennis courts that have been sidelined since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of hotels include the aforementioned four at PIC, five at Kensington Hotel, five at Coral Ocean Point Golf Resort, two each at Kanoa Resort and Saipan World Resort, and one each at Grandvrio Resort, Civic Center, Japanese retirement, and in Dandan, among others.
