NEW CHAMPION

Antoine ‘Lil Man’ Daniel is the new champion of the Silver Hill Road tennis tournament which climaxed on Sunday in front of a large crowd.

Daniel faced off against defending champion Mark ‘Venom’ Griffith in the final as the rain threatened to bring a premature end to the long awaited clash.

It was the third time Daniel had reached the final of the tournament, while Griffith was going after his fourth title in the tournament’s five-year history.

After the expected flamboyant aggressive shots by Daniel did not hit their target, the veteran player opted for controlled aggression rather than his normal full power.

This helped with the accuracy of his shots and his abundant arsenal of shots as well as deceptive plays levelled the scores at 9-9.

Points kept on coming for Daniel as Griffith was spoiling on the other end and Daniel was adding winners as well to move ahead 11-9 and then 14-11.

However, the never say die Griffith kept on grinding away, returning balls which other players would have given up on and he went on a 5-1 run which gave him a slender one point lead 16-15.

Nonetheless, Griffith had trouble returning Daniel’s serve that did not immediately put him on the defensive, with Daniel serving for the game, Griffith offered up a ball that begged to be hit and Daniel obliged whipping a winner past Griffith for the 21-18 game victory.

The second game was a see-saw battle which saw the rain getting involved in the proceedings on more than one occasion.

It first started drizzling with the scores locked at 4-4 but it was light enough that it did not interrupt play.

The lead changed hands a number of times and Griffith showed that he was not just a defender, but could attack as well. Throughout the game Daniel was playing with some controlled hitting.

This carried him to a 18-14 victory but many in the crowd knew that Griffith was never going to give up and true to form he clawed his way back to level the scores at 19-19.

With the two players trading points it was at 20-21 that the rain came once again, this time putting a halt to play with Daniel leading.

After approximately 15 minutes, play resumed and Griffith immediately levelled the scores once again before Daniel managed to squeeze out a victory 23-21 to win in straight sets.

Daniel carried off the top prize of $5 000 and a phone from Digicel, while Griffith had to settle for $2 500.

It was business as usual for the island’s top female player Kim Holder as she came up against Sheldene Walrond. Walrond had defeated Holder in the a rare moment at the Netball stadium in 2015 which was Holder’s first defeat in eight years.

However, since then Holder has been once again flawless and Walrond never looked like she was going to trouble Holder who went on to win 21-16, 21-16.
Holder won the trophy, $3 000 and a phone from Digicel, while Walrond won $1 250.

The future of road tennis looks bright with two talented young players, Ezekiel Ward and Nicholas Ellis, making it to the final of the Under-17 as well as the In House tournament.

They first faced off in the opening match of the night, a close battle which saw Ward coming from behind to win in a nail-biting and emotional match 18-21, 21-17, 22-20.

However, after this match when the two returned to the court for their second final, Ward clearly held the upper hand with Ellis a bit shaken from the previous match and not playing to his best.

It took the first game which Ward won 21-11 for Ellis to recover and the second game showed some impressive shots by the two left-handers. Yet, it was Ward who managed to hold the upper hand in the end with a 23-21 victory to carry off two titles in the night and a total combined prize of $2 000 plus two phones compliments Digicel.