The rains once again disrupted the Silver Hill Road Tennis Tournament on Thursday night as fans waited until close to midnight to see the battle between two of the game’s most exciting showmen in Antonio “Lil Man” Daniel and Dario Hinds.
That clash was rescheduled for last night as well as the continuation of the match between Shawn “Schwarzenegger” Spencer and Abbie “Playboy” Clarke. Muscular southpaw Spencer had taken the first game 21-17 before the rains intervened, forcing organisers to call it a night.
And what a night it had proved to be earlier, with many of the big guns clashing to advance to the round of 16.
Davian “Force Ripe” Taylor played some tremendous shots all around the court to soften up a stern challenge from Lloyd “Dick Man” Burke 21-16, 11-21, 21-15.
Former Division 1 cricketer and footballer Dwayne Lynch impressed in surging from 5-10 in the second game to dismiss former national champion Winston “Charles McEnroe” Griffith in straight sets 21-13, 21-16.
Marson Johnson defeated Adrian Scott 21-17, 21-12, but the shocker was the grim Julian “Snake” Quimby battling from a set down to oust hometown favourite Victor “Earth” Ward 15-21, 21-14, 21-15.
Following an upset over Julian “Michael Jackson” White in the first Silver Hill tournament, Ward has achieved mere success in the ‘B’ class of the islandwide.
On Thursday night, Anthony “Prince” Haynes made it into his first round of 16 by crushing unknown Ricardo Taylor 21-9, 21-16, while Adrian “Howlie” Walker beat Matthew Grazette 21-17, 21-18.
The continuation of the game between Kerry “TC” Francis and Emar Edwards proved to be a nail-biter. From a lock of 15-15, Francis moved to what looked like a winning position of 19-17. But national chess player Edwards apparently was sacrificing pieces to checkmate Francis 21-19.
The in-house action had seen Terrence Prescott winning by default over Shawn Browne, Rommel “Cut Lee” Forde butchering Wayne “Bull” Lewis 21-15, 21-17 and Neil Franklyn going past Anderson Griffith 21-14, 21-13.
The women will take to the court next when the in-house, Under-17 and open men will all be in action. Carlyn “The Model” Haynes plays new amateur queen Julia Morris-Young while Miranda Manning takes on Juliet Worrell.
The night cappers in the men’s open promise to be hot with champion Mark “Venom” Griffith entertaining fashionable player Aaron Barker after Gary “Kojak” Thomas challenges White.
Edwards and Haynes will also clash. (KB)
