A four-member National Under-12 tennis team departed the island last week Friday to compete in the ITF/GSDF 12 and Under COTECC Team Masters event being held in Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico between October 20 – 26.

The event is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and supported by the Grand Slam Developmental Fund (GSDF).

Team members — Nicholas Gore, John Azar Jr, Jenna Harrison and Emma Dibbs — were selected to represent the island after the recently concluded team trials held at the Tennis Jamaica headquarters.

Gore was particularly dominant in those trials winning all of his matches, while Azar and Harrison are the reigning All Jamaica boys and girls Under-12 champions, respectively.

The team is accompanied by coach/captain, Kadija Richards.

Both the boys and girls teams gained qualification to the prestigious Masters event after successfully competing against the best teams in the Caribbean at a recent ITF 12 and under event held in September at the Liguanea Club in Kingston.

Also down to compete in the Masters event are the Bahamas, Bermuda, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and host nation Mexico.

The tournament will be played with a Davis Cup format and each tie will consist of two singles matches and one doubles match. Competition format will be a combination between a round-robin followed by main and consolation draws.

In addition to the competition itself, the ITF will host a series of daily educational forums where important topics relating to the overall player development and tennis education of the competitors will be explored.

Tennis Jamaica’s vice-president and chairman of its Technical Committee, Llocket McGregor, was confident that the team would give a strong account of themselves in light of their recent performances. He described the competition as “undoubtedly tough as it is a Masters event which attracts the best of the best”.