Previous Story
Tan Holdings Tennis Classic set
|
Posted on Oct 23 2015
The 7th Tan Holdings Tennis Classic will be held for two weekends in November and December.
Rintaro Miyawaki competes in the U12 singles event of last year’s Tan Holdings Tennis Classic at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Week 1 of the annual competition will run from Nov. 27 to 29 and will feature games in the junior division, while the Dec. 4 to 6 play dates are for adult events. Both weekends will have singles and doubles matches.
Venues have yet to be announced, but it is likely that organizers will use the various hotel courts on Saipan as the American Memorial Park tennis courts are not yet playable after sustaining significant damage from Typhoon Soudelor last August. Registration dates and deadlines will be known next month.
The players to watch in this year’s Tan Holdings Classic include Conatsu Kaga, Tania Tan, Aditya Rai, Robbie Schorr, Ji Min Moo, Moris Villanueva, and Luke Beling, who ruled their respective singles competitions last year. The 2014 winners are expected to be joined by some Guam players, who have been supporting the Tan Holdings Tennis Classic since its inception in 2009.
The visiting players have their share of wins in the past editions of the tournament with George Lai and Eddie Wu topping the men’s over 40 doubles last year after beating Saipan’s Ken Imaya and Joe Quitugua in the finals, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). In 2013, George had a different partner in Eun Jang and they took the men’s 4.0 doubles against the former’s brother Sam and Wu. Sam also clinched a crown in 2013, as he and brother David prevailed in the men’s over 40 doubles.
Meanwhile, next month’s tournament will be the first event under the 2015-2016 calendar of Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association and ranking points will be at stake for junior players. Other NMITA-sanctioned competitions for this season are the Coconut Tennis Classic in February, the PIC Tennis Championship in March, and the CNMI National Junior Tennis Championships in April. The Commonwealth’s junior players need ranking points to make it to the CNMI Junior National Team that competes every year in the North Pacific Regional Championships.
