The finals of CBC’s Tennis in De Pine were held at the Deighton “Pa” Roach Tennis Centre in Bush Hall and not the Pine.
But, that change in venue saw no change in fortunes as the Barbados Defence Force teams predictably captured both titles in the inaugural tournament put on by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation Sports Club.
Persistent rains on Whit Monday, the night of the finals, had forced the organisers to postpone the doubles finale and to switch to the Bush Hall Venue. First up, the BDF duo of Sheldene Waldron and Sherene Ward took the women’s crown with a straight sets win over Purity Bakeries’ Juliet Worrell and Shernelle Cumberbatch, 22-20, 21-15.
The attacking and exciting play from Waldron and Ward carried them to early advantages of 13-7 and 20-15 in the first game.
However, that aggression as well as the counter from Worrell and Cumberbatch, whose deft touches and smashes made a mockery of her size, saw Purity deucing the opener 20-all.
After edging home in that first game the BDF built and held on to more leads in the second game and with greater consistency in their attacking play they wrapped up the contest.
The BDF men of Aaron Douglas and Terry Smith enjoyed an easier contest against the National Sport Council pair of Peter Moore and Peter John winning that final 21-14, 21-12.
Moore, who is a coach at the NSC, struggled to serve from the mandated right side of the court as he is left-handed. That, in addition to the better synchronised play from the BDF denied NSC any realistic hopes of an upset.
However, the 6’ 4” Douglas had to curb his aggression in the first game as many of his smashes went awry to give NSC easy points. That was not the case in the second game as NSC faced a sow 19-9 before the dreadlocked John provided some laughter by scoring the 10th point for his team and proclaiming: “Rastaman don’t deal with pork.” (KB)
