There must be a better way

 IF everything goes ahead as planned, there will be an International World Road Tennis Champion who is not from Barbados. Worse yet, none of the Barbadian players would have even had the chance to compete in the International Category.

 

Plans were recently revealed for the World Road Tennis Championships, slated for November 9-13, where some members of the organising committee along with the Minister of Sport Stephen Lashley gave the categories to be contested over the five-day event.

 

However it seems a bit puzzling to have an International category where no Bajans are allowed to take part.

 

The Open Men's and Women's will carry the highest purse of $20 000.

 

But what sounds better and gives the appearance of more prestige, the Open World Champion or the International World Champion? 

 

Some may argue that in order to encourage greater participation from countries the sport has been introduced to, one will have to separate the Barbadian players – who have been playing the game longer – from the ones who are still learning.

 

But does this mean that handing them a World title is the best way?

 

If the idea is to encourage players outside of Barbados, then maybe holding an invitational/ goodwill tournament, where they play each other along with the Bajan players, is the way to go. 

 

There are plenty of World Championships around the globe that can be used as a model; and they all give everyone an equal and fair opportunity to win the title.

 

Maybe qualifiers are a better options as well, where the top seeds from outside of Barbados and Barbados automatically are entered in the main draw, while the other players have to go through a qualifier in order to reach the main draw and then battle it out for the World title.

 

These are all alternatives which should be explored.