CNMI netters will skip ’09 Mini Games

CNMI netters will not be competing in the 2009 South Pacific Mini Games in Cook Islands after all.

This after Michael A White, president of the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association, announced during NMASA’s monthly meeting Thursday night that the Pacific Games Council will allow only U.S. citizens or citizens of the islands/nations they are representing to participate in the quadrennial event in Rarotonga.

CNMI coach and Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association vice president Jeff Race said they will not be sending their tennis players to the Cook Islands.

About two weeks ago, Race told Saipan Tribune that several CNMI netters are interested in competing in next year’s Mini Games after tennis was added in the calendar of events in the quadrennial meet.

Early this year, tennis was not on the list due to lack of facility in Rarotonga, but Cook Islands tennis officials worked for its inclusion late last month after body building made a last minute pullout.

Race and the rest of the tennis community in the region were elated over the good news, but the former’s happiness was short lived, as two of the CNMI netters interested in going to the Cook Islands are ineligible to play under the eligibility rules upheld by the Pacific Games Council.

Kana Aikawa and Ji Hoon Heo are non U.S. citizens with the former holding Canadian and Japanese passports and the latter having a Korean passport.

“I am really disappointed with the eligibility rules and feel sorry for our tennis players who are interested to play in the Mini Games,” Race said.

“We could have a good women’s doubles team in Kana (Aikawa) and Mayuko (Arriola). We also have a strong and young pair in the men’s doubles in Ji Hoon (Heo) and Tim (Quan),” he added.

Quan and Arriola are U.S. citizens, but Race said that right now NMITA is not keen on sending players only for the singles competition.

“We could have considered the idea of having men’s and women’s doubles team playing in the Cook Islands. But with these eligibility rules, we won’t be sending any athletes to the Mini Games next year,” the CNMI coach said.

Race was the player-coach of the CNMI Tennis Team what competed in the 2005 Mini Games in Palau. Aikawa, Quan, and Montgomery joined Race on the team.

In the 2007 South Pacific Games, Aikawa was interested to compete in Apia, Samoa but was ineligible due to the “only U.S. citizens” policy.

Before the Apia Games, Aikawa won the women’s singles, mixed doubles, and women’s doubles gold in the 2006 Micronesian Games which Saipan hosted.

Aikawa and Heo developed their tennis skills here since they were kids and represented the CNMI in various off-island competitions.

Heo played for the CNMI and the North Pacific Team in the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji for the past two years. He also represented the CNMI in tournaments in New Caledonia, Australia, Japan, and Korea. Next month, he will be joining a Junior ITF event in the Philippines.