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Regional tennis tourneys pushed back
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Posted on Mar 23 2020
Serin Chung rushes for a baseline return to Helen Kim during last month’s Coconut Tennis Classic at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
The North Pacific Regional Championships, which the CNMI Junior Tennis Team has dominated for years, has been rescheduled due to COVID-19.
The regional tournament was originally set for June in Guam, but with travel restrictions in effect across the globe due to the pandemic, the annual competition will now be held from July 13 to 17. The CNMI, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau compete in the regional championships and vie for the slots on the North Pacific Team that sees action in the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji.
The POJC, which is held either late July or early August, also has a new date—Oct. 15 to 24. Two more regional events have been pushed back with the West Pacific Regional Championships in Port Vila, Vanuatu and the East Pacific Regional Championships in Apia, Samoa now slated for July 20 to 24 and July 27 to 31, respectively. The West and East tournaments are usually scheduled for either April or May.
“We’ll see how things improve so we can make plans with the new schedule. Let’s hope for the best,” CNMI Junior National Team coach Jeff Race said.
Race and the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association select the members of the CNMI National Team that participate in the North Pacific event based on the players’ performance in various local tournaments.
So far, NMITA managed to complete three competitions—the TanHoldings Tennis Classic, Saipan International School Student Council Tennis Tournament, and the Coconut Classic. NMITA had its fourth event—the Bridge Capital Tennis Classic—early this month, but only the opening week matches were played and the juniors singles and doubles games set for last weekend have been suspended, until further notice.
Besides the Bridge Capital Tennis Classic, NMITA still has the CNMI Junior Championships, originally scheduled for April.
“We can’t really tell which tournament will go ahead. We just have to go with the flow, keep ourselves safe, healthy, and ready,” Race said.
