Rubis A defied all odds to repeat as champions of the Village Camp Team Shotgun Road Tennis Tournament when the semi-finals and finals climaxed on Saturday night at the Deighton “Pa” Roach Tennis Facility.
Displaying tremendous teamwork and skill, Rubis stormed past Barbarees Guardians to take the finals 4-2 and claim the top prize of $5 000. The Guardians had to settle for the second prize of $2 500 while a disappointing Scotty’s Combined Sauna All Stars placed third to earn $1 500 after being touted as the potential new champions.
Earlier, the Guardians had dismissed Bush Hall Whites 4-2 in the semi-finals but the shocker was Rubis crushing Sauna 4-1.
Young Dominic Browne outplayed Nicolas “Nik-Nik” Ellis 21-15, Junior Wharton stunned Aaron Barker 21-17 and former Barbados volleyballer Gregory “Coach” Gill stepped on Julian “Snake” Quimby 21-14.
Inspirational captain Julian “Michael Jackson” White had taken the lead for the champions by surprisingly opening up their semis bid when he dismissed his opposite number Abbie “Playboy” Clarke 21-11.
Sauna Boss Anthony “Baku” Simmons, who had fielded four teams from his camp, was almost catatonic when his female champion Kim Holder was held on the ropes at 19 all by novice Maudlyn Blunt before Holder and an official’s howler allowed Sauna their lone win in the semis.
Blunt was the sacrificial lamb in the finals as she was sent out to face the aggressive Rachel Smith in the first clash and was slaughtered 21-5. The Guardians should have gone two up but Marson Johnson fought from 16-19 to edge Dwayne Lynch 22-20.
Southpaw Adrian “Dan” Skeete carried the Guardians into the lead as excessive aggression by Junior Alleyne cost him points and the match as Skeete limped home 21-17.
Captain White then joined the fray to blunt a threat from his opposite number, Davien “Force Ripe” Taylor 21-17, thus making it 2-2.
Browne gave the champions the lead when he stopped Tyrell “Most Wanted” Bruce 21-15. Gill then sealed the title for Rubis with a masterful win over former No. 1 player Charles “McEnroe” Taylor 21-17.
White said the team spirit within his unit helped them to overcome all doubts to repeat as kings.
“We were always confident of repeating as our strategy was to score a victory in the juniors or females as we knew we had the players to win the other categories,” said White, who was voted Best Team Captain.
The Most Valuable Player was Shibbir Greenidge of Bush Hall Whites. Bruce won the Most Improved Player award, Ellis scored the most sows while Sauna Combined won a prize for pulling off a 7-0 victory in the preliminaries. (KB)
