Kaga sisters near doubles finals

The CNMI Junior National Team and coach Jeff Race, third row right, pose for a photo during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji last Monday. (Contributed Photo)

Siblings Coume and Conatsu Kaga got their acts together to eliminate their opponents at the start of the girls U14 doubles competition in the 2017 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji.

The second seeded pair eased past the Solomon Islands’ Marion Goatee and Tonga’s Ana Vaka in the first set of their game at the lower half of the draw, 6-2, and then had an easier victory in the second, 6-0, to march into the semifinals of the seven-team field. The Kagas foes in the semifinals are the Solomon Islands duo of Prudence Bird and Zorika Morgan, who also needed only two sets to oust the Federated States of Micronesia’s Anne Skilling and Ridianne Wolphagen, 6-2, 6-4.

Joining the CNMI and Solomon Islands pairs in the Final Four are Tahiti’s Kira Fong Loi and Celina Snogan, who topped the Commonwealth’s Maria Gregoire and Guam’s Kaia Malakooti, 6-1, 6-0. The Tahiti players will have a tough semis assignment as they will challenge the No. 1 seed Desiree Signo of Vanuatu and Clara Cwajenbaum of New Caledonia.

Meanwhile, games in the boy U14 and girls and boys U16 doubles will start today.

In the boys U14 doubles, Ji Min Woo will partner with fellow CNMI player Seung Jin Paik and they will take on Fiji’s Avikash Kumar and Vanuatu’s Warea Tigona for one of the two semis spots at the bottom half of the draw. Richard Steele is also at the lower half of the draw and will team up with Tonga’s Christopher Maasi when they duel No. 2 seed Manovai Elie and Mohearli Polin of Tahiti. Sean Lee, on the other hand, is at the upper half of the draw and will join forces with the Federated States of Micronesia’s Jefferson Freddy in battling Tahiti’s Meheannu Larson and New Caledonia’s Terence Winter.

In the girls U16 doubles, defending champion Carol Lee has a new partner in Malika Miyawaki and the CNMI duo will go for a semis ticket against Samoa’s Penina Kamu and Tonga’s Kava Taufa. Grace Choi will work with Fiji’s Saoirse Breen and a win against Tonga’s Peata Fatai and Brookie Maasi will allow the CNMI-Fiji pair to cross paths with Lee and Miyawaki in the semis.

In the boys U16 doubles, Robbie Schorr and Ken Song, who won last year’s boys U14 doubles title, will team up anew and will face the Cook Islands’ Elijah Amataiti and Samoa’s Kristen Pavitt in the quarterfinals. The CNMI’s other team—Michael Ren and Vincent Tudela—will square off against Tuvalu’s Gavin Molotii and Vanuatu’s Samuel Strid. Ren and Tudela are seeded second in the division, while Vanuatu’s Marlin Hannam and Clement Mainguy are the top-ranked players and automatically moved to the semifinals.