Rubis team ‘A’ are highly favoured to retain their Village Camp Road Tennis Shotgun title when the sixth edition of the tournament serves off this morning at nine at the Deighton “Pa” Roach Tennis Facility, Bush Hall.
Led by the winningest road tennis player Julian “Michael Jackson” White, Rubis ‘A’ boast a line-up that will enjoy a war minus the biggest threats of Mark “Venom” Griffith, who is missing from all of the Sauna’s squads and Antonio “Lil Man” Daniel, who will not be turning out for Barbarees Guardians.
A record 16 teams have entered the tournament – an increase of two –while making a mockery of the six teams which had launched the competition in 2012. The winner will receive $5 000, with second and third getting $2 500 and $1 500, respectively, and fourth gaining medals.
Each team must comprise a female, a junior, a veteran and four other players – one of whom must be the captain. The toss gives the winners the right to decide first matchup while the losing team in a match has the right to call out their next opponent. A team claims victory after winning the first four matches in a clash, but the female and junior must compete in the first four matchups.
With captains having to play each other, the absence of Griffith and Daniel almost guarantees White a win. Rubis ‘A’ will critically depend on the performance of St Vincent and the Grenadines queen Maudlyn Blunte and junior Dominic Browne.
While Rubis will also have a talented veteran in former national volleyballer Gregory Gill while the likes of Marson Johnson, Junior Wharton and Junior Alleyne provides Rubis with lots of hope. The likes of Davien “Force Ripe” Taylor, Emar Edwards, Dario Hinds, Curtis Jones, Kerry “TC” Francis and Darius “Baracus” Gaskin will also be aiming to take the win for some of the other teams.
Griffith’s absence has not affected the turnout from the Sauna, who will be fielding four teams in Scotty’s Car Rentals Sauna United, Scotty’s Combined Sauna All Stars, Sauna Heat Rush and Sauna Heat Wave.
Home club Bush Hall has three teams in Bush Hall Mixers, Bush Hall Whites and Bush Hall Aces. There will also be competition from Rubis ‘A’ and ‘B’, Barbados Public Workers Credit Union Yardies, Road View Ballers, Barbados Fire Service, Young Boy Seven, Young Birds, Wolf Pack and Barbarees Guardians.
Following today’s preliminaries, the next round and finals will be played on Saturday. (KB)
