Johannesburg, South Africa – Defending champions, South Africa will be well represented at the International Club under 16 Junior Challenge Worldwide finals in London next week.
The International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain (IC of GB) will host the IC U16 Junior Challenge Worldwide Finals on the Championship courts at The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon) this month.
The Challenge, played every two years, will be played from 28th July – 1st August 2014.
The International Club of South Africa hosted a 16 and Under regional play-off against Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Botswana last year in October. The winning South African team comprising of twins Lee and Zani Barnard (Gauteng North), Jan-Louis Maritz (Boland) and Richard Thongoana (Gauteng Central) will be departing for London tomorrow (Friday) to represent the continent in the finals. Terry Schweitzer of Gauteng East will coach and captain the side.
Joining South Africa at Wimbledon are the other regional qualifiers USA, Argentina, Italy and Japan and hosts Great Britain.
Open to all 40 International Club’s (IC’s) around the world, the U16 Junior Challenge is the IC Council’s premier junior event. The 2014 worldwide finals are proudly sponsored by Compass Group.
The tournament will comprise of a round-robin format over a five day period, concluding on Friday 1st August. Each IC team will be represented by two U16 boys and two U16 girls, plus an adult captain/coach. Matches will feature two boys’ singles, two girls’ singles, one boys’ doubles and one girls’ doubles. Final positions will be determined by the number of tie wins.
The referee for the event is Clare Wood, former professional player and assistant referee at The Championships, Wimbledon.
Terrey Schweitzer, the South African Coach said her players were really excited to play in the event. “As it will be my players first opportunity to compete on grass at Wimbledon you can only imagine the excitement in the team. Added to this the exposure in playing against other top National players is such an opportunity. Playing at Wimbledon is a goal and a dream for each one of my players.”
Gavin Crookes, President of Tennis South Africa (TSA) said that TSA were grateful for the International Club for arranging the event. “This is such a great initiative and opportunity for juniors worldwide. It awards our up and coming juniors from South Africa the opportunity to play at the “home of tennis”, which is bound to be an awesome experience. On behalf of all of our members and citizens we wish the South African team all the very best.”
Picture credit: International Club South Africa.
