John, Daniel Azar shine at Charity Doubles Tennis tourney
JOHN and Daniel Azar captured the Group ‘A’ title at the inaugural staging of the 2020 Tennis Jamaica Invitational Charity Doubles Tennis Tournament held at Eric Bell Tennis Centre recently.
The father and son pair of John Azar Sr and Daniel Azar defeated the pair of John Azar Jr and Adam Harris in a hard-fought and exciting final 8-6 to clinch the title.
In their semi-finals the Azar pair beat Mario Campbell and Simon Casserly 8-3, while Azar Jr and Harris knocked out Katherine Dibbs and Adrian Infante 8-3 in the other semi-final.
Dr Malaika Masson and Rachel Christian were the champions of Group ‘C’ after defeating Corrine Clarke and Yvonne Brown 8-6 in the final.
Fred Redpart and Bobby Chandiram beat Mark Harris and Andrew Harris 6-3 to capture Group ‘B’.
John Azar Sr, the current president of Tennis Jamaica, thanked the sponsors, players and supporters for being a part of the charity event.
“It was a ‘Charity Doubles Tennis Tournament’ to purchase tablets, with the proceeds going towards our Junior Development Fund,” said Azar Sr.
Meanwhile, Dr Masson of the International Development Bank (IDB) from Washington, DC (USA), spoke on behalf of her partner Christian from Cari-med, the title sponsor of the event.
“It’s the first time Christian and myself paired together, and also the first time we are competing as adults in a doubles tournament. We were not confident that we would have won,” said Dr Masson.
She added that women’s tennis is growing and that she was very proud
NELSON, New Zealand (CMC) — West Indies ‘A’ bowled with discipline, but half-centuries from Michael Bracewell and Tim Seifert gave New Zealand ‘A’ the edge in their second “Test” on Friday.
Left-armed spinner Fabian Allen was the pick of the Windies ‘A’ bowlers, taking two for 39 from 15.4 overs, before he injured himself fielding a delivery off his own bowling in the final hour.
The visitors, however, failed to make deep inroads into the New Zealanders’ batting, and Bracewell, not out on 93, and Seifert, with 60, anchored the hosts to 264 for four in their first innings at the close on the opening day of the four-day, first-class match at Saxton Oval, after they chose to bat.
Play began 45 minutes late because of a ground delay, but former West Indies Under-19 pacer Jayden Seales, on his first-class debut, made the breakthrough for the visitors once things started, when he had opener Glenn Phillips caught at gully for 13 inside the first hour.
For 1 ¾ hours either side of lunch, Windies ‘A’ — being led by wicketkeeper/ batsman Nicholas Pooran for this match — failed to add to that early success, after Mark Chapman came to the crease and with Seifert carried New Zealand ‘A’ to 78 for one at the interval. to represent women in the sport. “I am looking forward again to play in the next doubles tournament,” said Dr Masson, who has resided in Jamaica for the past five years working with IDB.
Meanwhile, Tournament Director David Sanguinetti said all protocols were observed throughout the day, with everyone wearing masks and practising the social distancing that was strictly enforced at the facility.
He said the tournament was also a huge success, involving 31 teams broken into three groups. There were 12 teams in Group A, 13 in Group B — with one team having four players — and six teams in Group C.
According to Sanguinetti, the groups were broken down into teams of three and all teams guaranteed two matches played in a round robin format, with the winners advancing to the knockout stage.
Sanguinetti thanked all the sponsors who made it possible, Cari-med, King Alarm, Caribbean Producers (Jamaica) Limited, Gabby’s Choice, WATA, Guardian Life, Power Aid and Tennis Jamaica.
Gregory Christian, business development manager of Cari-med, thanked Tennis Jamaica for staging such a fantastic event that was well attended.
He has made a commitment to sponsor another doubles tournament in the near future.