MANILA, Philippines - The ITF Asia 14-and-under Development Championships–Division I will hold a one-day training camp today to allow players to adjust to the conditions at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center when they vie for titles and ranking points starting tomorrow.
The camp is also held to help in deciding the seedings in the two five-day tournaments featuring the region’s leading players and the country’s top junior netters.
The first tournament, sanctioned by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund and backed by the Philippine Tennis Academy, Mariposa Foundation, Dunlop Fort Balls, Magnolia Purewater and Century Park Hotel, will start on Tuesday with the other slated March 12-16, according to the organizing Philippine Tennis Association.
Eric Olivarez Jr., Alberto Lim Jr., Ericka Mae Manduriao and Ma. Dominque Ong head the country’s campaign in the event along with Christian Fel Lopez, Jerome Romualdez and Jose Julian Dayrit IV and Maia Bernadette Balce, Ingrid Mariz Gonzales and Meredith Jones.
Backed by Fresh Fruits, Fiesta Brands, Cebuana Lhuillier, Phinma and the Philippine Sports Commission, the event is bannered by the top junior players from Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, China and the ITF Central Asia teams composed of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
For details, contact Philta tournament director Loida Mallare at (632) (5236415) or fax (632) (5252016) or email HYPERLINK “mailto:ten_phil@yahoo.com” \t “_blank” ten_phil@yahoo.com.
The ITF is putting up the event to help develop and promote the sport in Asia and at the same time create the first-ever ranking system for junior players in the region.
Up for grabs are ranking points with the singles champions to get 450 points and the next two finishers to receive 300 and 225 points, respectively.
The doubles winners will earn 50 ranking points.