The Lae Tennis Club in Morobe Province hosted an impressive Panamex Lae Tennis Open, the club’s major tournament.
This is the second year that the club’s major tournament was hosted.
The President of the Lae Tennis Club, Mr. Glynn Cabasug said the total registrations for the tournament this year hit 56 total number of players, compared to last year’s figure of 37 players.
President Cabasug made a special mention to legends of the game George Barakat from Lae and Vikam Tikari.
“This tournament provided an opportunity for these top players to share their talents and showcase their tennis skills to our Lae community (and visiting Goroka team), especially to all the juniors.”
The tournament also saw for the first time the use of the Tournament Software, which is currently being used in tournaments at POMRC and around the world.
“This online software provides the ability to update scores real-time, so that match results and schedules could be checked online by players, friends and family anytime, anywhere.”
The President also extended a word of thanks to PNG Tennis / Barbara Stubbings for providing access to the software and to POMRC Tennis Competition Coordinator Mr. Eddie Mera, for assisting the Lae team to learn and use the software for the first time.
Panamax also arranged for the High Performance to be at the LTC during the tournament.
“This was a first for the HPT to be here at the LTC and they provided much needed pre-match and post-match massages, warmups, cool downs, to prevent unwanted injuries for our players.”
This year, the Doubles Open Event was added to the tournament with the hopes of providing more incentives for visitors to participate in the tournament with the possibility of more matches.
“The Doubles was an instant hit, and we needed to cut 7 pairs off from the total list of entries due to time constraints, but prioritized pairs consisting of visitors, adults only participating in the Doubles event, and top juniors.,” he said.
“We maintained a complete 16-Draw and left the Doubles Finals as the very last match before the Presentation, to provide an exciting display of fast rallies and quick hands at the net.”
Cabasug said the change in public holiday affected their original plan for the tournament but added that it turned out well in the end.
He sent a big word of thanks to the naming sponsors for the tournament, Panamax Pacific (PNG) Ltd, Minor Sponsors, the Lae Golf Club, the President of the Lae Chamber of Commerce, President of PNG Tennis, Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) Coordinator for PNG, POMRC Tennis Director, the High Performance Team and all the registered players who competed in the tournament, as well as supporters and volunteers, for pulling off an excellent weekend of tennis.