Semis doubles postponed to today

Lam

The conclusion of the semifinals of the boys 14 division of the 2023 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships will have to wait for today as the matches of top seeds La Hunn Lam and Nason Wessel and Ryan Choi and Siwoo Lee were postponed yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji.

“La Hunn and Nason started late and were playing but it rained so it was postponed until tomorrow (today),” according to CNMI Hall of Famer and national coach Jeff Race.

At the time of the postponement Lam and Wessel were down 2-3 in the first set but leading the sixth game, 40-0, against Tahiti’s Nicholas Montaigut and Matehau Sacault.

Choi and Lee, meanwhile, were to face Guam’s Junhyuk Seo and Federated States of Micronesia’s Dontrick Daniel, the second seeds.

In the quarterfinals of the boys 16 doubles, Henry Seungwoo Choi and June Yu dropped the first set against Fiji’s Ao Li and Devaansh Singh, but were leading, 3-1, in the second set when the match was halted due to rain.

As for Lam’s ankle injury that almost caused him to be retired in the quarterfinals of the boys 14 singles, Race said his ward is doing fine.

Wessel

“La Hunn’s ankle is doing okay. I have a really good ankle brace that he is wearing. He’ll play the singles final in the morning. Then finish doubles later. The doubles final, if they make it, has been pushed to Wednesday morning I think,” he said.

Lam, meanwhile, is in good spirits when asked about his ankle injury prior to his postponed boys 14 doubles match.

“I have a little pain when I run but it’s not too painful. I will do my best to have a good match, and never give up. I’ll make NMI  proud, I got this!” he said. 

Lam faces top seed Junhyuk Seo of Guam in the boys singles finale.

As for the threat of being retired on Sunday with him just needing a game to wrap up the quarterfinals match, Lam said it was unbelievable. 

“I was really shocked that the physio told me to retire. I couldn’t do that. I just needed to win one more game!” he said.

In other matches that did finish yesterday, Irin Chung came in third in the girls 16 after beating Samoa’s Toaiva Busby, 6-4, 1-0 (retired).

June Yu finished in 14th place in the boys 16 after defeating compatriot Simon Tang, 6-2, 6-1

Lina Tsukagoshi came in 12th in girls 14 after topping Guam’s Leah San Agustin, 6-1, 6-3

Anne Lee lost to Samoa’s Maryallyson Vaai, 5-7, 3-6, in the fifth-eighth playoff in the girls 14.

The CNMI placed fourth in the boys 12 after losing to Tahiti, 2-1.

Hoo Wang dropped to eighth place in the girls 16 after losing via walkover against Samoa’s Tasa Paul.

Simon Tang and Cook Islands’ Luke Pierre lost in the boys 16 doubles quarterfinals against Darius Carruthers and Titus Paul of Samoa, 3-6, 5-7.

Henry Seungwoo Choi finished fourth in the boys 14 after dropping a 0-6, 1-6 match against Kiribati’s Alessandro Traverso.

Race is being accompanied in Fiji by assistant coach Colin Ramsey.