[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he seventh edition of the Pinehill LUCELEC National Independence Tennis Tournament gets underway from February 15-21. Details of this year’s tournament was announced during a recent press conference at the National Tennis Centre at Beausejour.
Seated at the table was Vice President of the St Lucia Tennis Association (SLTA) Inc, Digby Abris; SLTA Board Member ,Anselm Mathurin; Digby Abris of the SLTA; Peter and Company Distribution officials Krysyal Francois and Greg Mathurin.
Before proceeding, Mathurin acknowledged and thanked Northwest,agent for KIA Motors for having contributed to this tournament for several years.
Taking into account the difficulty in attaining sponsorship he said: “Tis an exciting time for us. With the challenges that we have in the economy and the lack of partnership from the private sector we are very grateful and appreciative of our partners this year.”
Abris; “We are extremely happy to have the partnership, the alliance with groups like Pinehill and LUCELEC who exhibit corporate responsibility. We are going to have another exciting year. There are at least four major tennis tournaments taking place here. The Independence Tennis Tournament, Easter Tournament, Schools Tournament and the Coca ITF Junior Tennis Tournament.”
He also mentioned that there would be a series of other tournaments to keep players active in addition to development camps.
Abris announced an agreement with Sagicor concerning the branding of the National Tennis Centre which is one aspect of their participation and the goal would be to take tennis around the island and decentralize the sport from the north.
The following are the various age categories for the tournament: 10’s 12’s, 14’s, 16’s and Open category which the aging wonder Vernon Lewis won last year. There is a registration fee for juniors and adults.
Francois who is a Brand Manager at Peter and Company Distribution said: “Pinehills mandate and by extension Peter and Company has always been to encourage active and healthy lifestyles not only through our annual Pinehill Fun Walk which is the largest participatory sporting event in St Lucia but throughout the year by supporting tournaments like this and school sports which we do throughout the year.”
