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Miller misses No. 1 ranking
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Posted on Aug 15 2011
Christian Miller faltered on his final bid to take the No. 1 ranking in the boys U15 division of the 2011 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships after losing to Tahiti’s Heve Kelley in the title game last Friday in Lautoka, Fiji.
Miller was off in the opening set of the championship match, allowing Kelley to cruise to a 6-1 victory. Then in the second set, Miller gave the Tahiti netter a run for his money before bowing, 5-7.
Despite the loss, the runner-up finish in last week’s tournament is the best for Miller in the U15 division. Last year, he was only ranked third after dropping his semifinals match over New Caledonia’s Alesandro Blasco, 3-6, 0-6. Miller went on to beat Fiji’s Geordie Daulaca in the battle for third place last year, 6-1, 7-6 (9).
With Miller in second place in the boys U15 singles, only Tammy Ackerman gave the CNMI a championship in the five-day tournament. She won the girls U12 singles over teammate Negahr Rastguiy, who also improved this year, climbing to second after a third-place finish last year.
Ackerman did not make it to the POJC last year, but had a rousing debut in the annual tournament with her title win. She and the 10 other CNMI junior netters are still in Fiji competing in separate tournaments.
Some of the U15 and U18 CNMI players are entered in the much tougher Oceania Closed Junior Championships, battling netters from Australia, New Zealand, and others in the region. Ackerman, Rastguiy, Carl Dela Cruz, and Moris Villanueva are competing in the Oceania Plate.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the POJC last week, the West team regained the overall championship it lost to the CNMI-led North squad last year. The West collected 127 points to beat the East (126) and the North (122). Points were given based on how players from each squad finished in the U12, U15, and U18 divisions.
