{"id":368858,"date":"2022-05-20T06:06:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T20:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=368858"},"modified":"2022-05-20T06:06:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T20:06:52","slug":"carol-lee-out-of-mini-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/carol-lee-out-of-mini-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol Lee out of Mini Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
Carol Lee, seen here suiting up for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, will not play for the CNMI National Tennis Team in next month\u2019s Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI\u2019s goal of sweeping the gold medals in tennis suffered a major setback after the withdrawal of Carol Lee in next month\u2019s Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.<\/p>\n

Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association and CNMI national tennis coach Jeff Race confirmed Lee\u2019s non-inclusion in the eight-player CNMI National Tennis Team for the Mini Games to Saipan Tribune the other day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge blow to the team that Carol isn\u2019t playing but all the other players are very much looking forward to the competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As far as the reason Georgia Tech women\u2019s team\u2019s No. 1 singles player is not coming to the Mini Games, Race said it had something to do with the Mini Games Organizing Committee\u2019s COVID-19 protocols for athletes, officials, and even media taking part in the quadrennial event.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll competitors and officials must be vaccinated. Carol refuses,\u201d said Race.<\/p>\n

With Lee out of the picture, the CNMI Sports Hall of Famer said there will be no more round-robin qualifier for Asia Raulerson, Hye Jin Elliot, and Serin Chung as the three automatically make the team joining Isabel Herras.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Carol dropped out we are down to four so no need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Elliott admitted to having mixed reactions to making the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sad that Carol won\u2019t be able to compete with us for this year\u2019s Mini Game, but I am excited that I was given this opportunity to play in the Mini Games alongside other amazing players,\u201d said the Saipan International School student and the CNMI No. 1 girls juniors player.<\/p>\n

Chung, the islands\u2019 No. 2 girls juniors netter, also shared her classmate\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to play in the Mini Games but it\u2019s sad that Carol is not going to be playing in the tournament since she was going to be a very crucial player on the team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Saipan Tribune reached out to Raulerson on her reaction to being named to the team, but she has yet to respond as of press time.<\/p>\n

The former Saipan resident and Albany State University varsity player was supposed to fly out to Saipan this month to try out for the national team, but will be coming home to train for the Mini Games instead.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old is the daughter of former Marianas High School teacher John and Pattana Raulerson<\/p>\n

Earlier, NMITA named ITF Tour veteran Colin Sinclair, Samoa Games carryover Robbie Schorr, Bobby Cruz, and Colin Ramsey to the men\u2019s team and Lee and Herras for women\u2019s team in the Mini Games, which is set from June 17 to 25 this year.<\/p>\n

A total of 98 players will suit up for the sport that will take place at the American Memorial Park tennis courts in Garapan and the Pacific Islands Club Saipan tennis courts in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas, Fiji, Guam, Nauru, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, and Tahiti will have eight players each, while Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Vanuatu will have seven apiece. The rest of the countries taking part in tennis are Cook Islands (2), FSM (3), Kiribati (5), Tonga (6), Tuvalu (3), Vanuatu (3), and Wallis & Futuna (3).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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