Darran Wrighton, the ITF Development Officer fro Pacific Oceania reports that a small contingent of Pacific players were invited to join the touring team in collaboration with the Oceania Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia from the 6-9th of December and then played in an Australian Junior Tour Bronze Event. The Tour Manager was the ITF Pacific Oceania Development Officer – Darran Wrighton and the tour coach was the Pacific Regional Tennis Centre Head Coach – Andrew Mailtorok.
Six players representing the Islands were entered into the Team Event that featured the top U14 players from each of the Australian States and each round consisted of two singles and one doubles rubber.
Initially the Pacific team found the matches challenging as each of their opponents held high Australian rankings as well as being the top U14 players from each state. Through each round the players improved steadily and a particular mention should go to the girls team that held match points in their singles and doubles rubbers against Western Australia. Having such tough competition showed the pacific players the level of intensity and competitiveness that is displayed from their Australian counterparts.
In between the two events the team were given many great experiences by Tennis Australia including playing on the indoor courts at the National Tennis Centre,(alongside top Australian players Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrigios)training on the new European clay courts and whilst training, the team were approached by the ABC network to conduct an interview. This interview was shown across national television and broadcast throughout the Pacific on radio.
During the second week the boys had a novel experience by playing on the clay and the girls played on hard courts as part of the Bronze Event. The boys had a tough job as they had to play three rounds of qualifying prior to making the main draw, two of them managed to qualify but soon found out that there are no easy matches at this level as they lost in the first round and Chris Shan (TAH) made it to the second round of the main draw consolation.
In the girls event Ayana Rengiil (PAL)and Carol Lee (NMI) had to play two rounds to qualify for the main draw whilst Mulan Kamoe (FIJ) was seeded in the main draw. Mulan made it to the quarter finals losing to the number 5 seed. Ayana narrowly lost in the first round of the main draw to the player who eventually placed third. Carol and Ayana continued in the consolation event of the main draw with Carol taking our Ayana in the semi finals, Carol then went onto win the final. Ayana and Mulan followed this success by winning the main draw of the doubles.
The Team were a credit to their federations and it is hoped that this tour will return to Melbourne in 2014.
For tour photo’s/ results and event draws please go to the Facebook page: Life and Times of a Development Officer
Pacific Oceania GSDF Tour to Melbourne 2014. Pictured from L to R-Christopher Shan (Tahiti) Michael Emery (Tahiti) Ben Pechan (Vanuatu) Ayana Rengil (Palau) Mulan Kamoe (Fiji) Carol Lee (Saipan)
