NMI team ready for NPQ on Guam

The Northern Marianas will be represented well at the upcoming North Pacific Qualifying Event as 11 of the Commonwealth’s elite junior players leave for Guam this Sunday to face off against other top guns from the host island, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

In an interview yesterday, Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association vice president Jeff Race expressed his confidence that the team could possibly bag seven of the eight qualifying slots up for grabs for the ITF Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji this summer.

“I think we’re going to have the most successful [North Pacific Qualifying] that we’ve ever had,” Race said. “Our team has worked really hard this year and we have a lot of dedicated young players on this team. I really think seven out of eight of the North Pacific team could be from the NMI. I would say for sure we’ll have five, we might have six, and possibly seven.”

Putting their skills to the test while serving as ambassadors of the NMI are Tim Quan, Nicolas Son, Ralph Buenaventura, Keith Gabaldon, Ji Hoon Heo, Russell Buenaventura, and Calvin Yang in the boys category and Mayuko Arriola, Vivian Lee, Lila Mailman, and Audrey Motto in the girls’ corner. Reo Arriola will coach the team.

Race said the various tournaments recently held, including the DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships and UMDA CNMI Junior Tennis Championships, will benefit the group as they challenge netters from around the region.

“The tournaments have absolutely been benefiting,” he said. “That’s the whole point of having all the tournaments…its to get these kids ready for this big event they’re going to.”

Quan, Ralph Buenaventura, Gabaldon, and Son will see action in the 18-and-under boys; Russell Buenaventura, Yang, and Heo in the 14-and-under boys; Arriola in the girls’ 18-and-under; and Lee, Mailman, and Motto in the girls’ 14-and-under. Only two slots are available per age group category.

Despite playing in the 18-and-under category for the first time in the tournament, Race said Arriola still has a good chance of making the team, however, must get past Guam representative Michelle Tang, who trains in the Philippines, and Palau’s Chelsea Isechal, both of whom Race said are tough competitors as well.

“This is Mayuko’s first year in the 18-and-under, and both Isechal and Tang are pretty good, but she’s capable of beating them,” Race said. She’s got to play well.”

In the previous local tournaments, Arriola has competed in the boys’ division and most recently won the men’s 3.0 title of the DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships.

Meanwhile, Race said he is confident that the NMI would sweep the boys’ 18-and-under category.

“We have four going in boys’ 18-and-under, and I’m quite sure we’ll put two in there. I’m pretty confident about that,” he said.

He added that the 14-and-under cast of Heo, Buenaventura, Yang, Lee, Mailman, and Motto have golden opportunities that they could capitalize on.

The tournament will be held from June 13 to June 17 and serves as a qualifying for North Pacific team to the 16th ITF Pacific Oceania Junior Tennis Championships which will be held from Aug. 16 to Aug. 20.

All competitors in the singles and doubles of each age group at the Championships will earn points. The team with the most points will be on the receiving end of the Regional Team Trophy.