More upgrades earmarked for National Tennis Centre

Prepare for more upgrades of the facilities of the National Tennis Centre at Villa, in time for the 2016 International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tournament.{{more}}

Making this disclosure was minister of tourism, sports and culture Cecil Mc Kie at the opening ceremony of the 2015 edition at the Tennis Centre.

Mc Kie projected: “When you come next year, you are going to have two additional courts that you will use to do your warm-ups and practice on, so next year you will come to eight courts on this facility.”

At present there are six courts at the National Tennis Centre, with the players utilizing two courts stationed at the adjoining St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College compound, for practice.

The six courts, however, went through resurfacing two weeks ago, just in time for the tournament.

Mc Kie noted that this undertaking was “a partnership which brought together past presidents of the Tennis Association, past players, the National Lotteries Authority, parents of persons playing tennis and some of the players themselves.”

The cost to resurface the courts, along with other repairs to other amenities, was put at US$80,000.

Mc Kie revealed that the National Lotteries Authority was the chief financier of the work, carried out by Barbadian contractor Sydney Lopez.

Extending praise for the recent upgrade of the National Tennis Centre was representative of the Confederation of Tennis of Central America and the Caribbean (COTEC) Colleen De Gannes.

“It was a tremendous to get it from what it was last year to what it is this year,” De Gannes commended. Thanking Mc Kie for his efforts, De Gannes added that a promise is a fool’s comfort; last year… he (Mc Kie) said he was going to get this happen and it happened.”

This year’s ITF junior tournament sees 23 countries participating.(RT)