BREANA STAMPFLI and Adrian De Silva are among 12 Trinidad and Tobago players competing in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Junior Tournament in Barbados.
The under-18 main draws will serve off today, but the tournament began since Saturday with the qualifying draws and the round-robin group stage of the under-14 division.
Stampfli and De Silva, who were crowned Tranquillity Open champions two weeks ago, were the only T&T players automatically in the under-18 main draws. They will also be among the eight seeds as a result of their world rankings.
The Tobagonian De Silva is the fourth highest-rated male in the Grade IV tournament with a world junior ranking of #458. Sixteen-year-old Stampfli, who is #560 in the world, is fifth on the female list.
The top three girls are all Americans, including Kandis Legall, who has T&T roots and is No. 3 on the list with a world ranking of #364.
Six T&T players began in the qualifying draw, but only Tobagonian Taphenese Koroma was still involved yesterday as Danielle Devenish, Dominic Countain, Makalah Goodridge, Keeshan Moonasar and former ITF under-14 champ Ethan Ammon were eliminated on Saturday.
Carissa Rudolfo, Aaron Soo Ping Chow, Jelani Davidson and Nabeel Mohammed are doing battle in the under-14 division. Mohammed and Davidson represented the country in the North/Central America & Caribbean pre-qualifying tournament for the World Junior Tournament two weeks ago, but Soo Ping Chow did not make the trip to El Salvador because of illness.
This week’s tournament is the first leg of a circuit, which will conclude in Trinidad next week Saturday.
(Source http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Tranquil_champs__in_Barbados_ITF-144173025.html)
