THE 2018 Island Chill Suva Open Tennis Championship that was held at the Victoria Tennis Court in Suva for the past three days could be a starting point for more local tournaments to boost the development of the sport in the country.
Tournament director Graham Venkataya said the excitement and performance at the Suva Open Championship had given him ideas to focus on the development of the sport.
“The presence of the young players in this tournament has been a huge impact for the excitement of the sport and I am going to continue to organise tournaments every three months to help build up the sport and to be recognised,” Venkataya said.
“The purpose of having this championship was for Suva but thanks to the Lautoka and Nadi players in joining and making this tournament more exciting.”
The tournament showed competitiveness and motivated young tennis players to build up their enthusiasm on the sport.
“We were supposed to get 80 players for this tournament but we received 120 athletes and there were a huge number of junior participants in the competition,” Venkataya said.
“I will direct my focus on the junior athletes because these are the grassroots of the sport and their development will be my focus.”
The Minister for Youth and Sports Laisenia Tuitubou was the chief guest at the award ceremony at the end of the competition yesterday.
