Young champions show off their skills

The three-day BTA (Bahrain Tennis Academy) Winter Junior Tennis Tournament concluded with champions being determined in the 6/U, 8/U, 10/U and 12/U categories. Following the preliminary skills competition on day one, the top four in each age group returned to battle it out for the trophies and medals.

The 6/U final featured a difficult skills competition where Boudica Verbeek took the honours over Rayyan Jaghbir, thanks to her consistency and accuracy. The 8/U and 10/U finals featured a singles round-robin, followed by semi-finals and a final, using modified court sizes and equipment specifically suited to these age categories.

In the 8/U final Fares Yousaf and Owen Verbeek fought it out to the very end. Fares eventually prevailed 4-3, after winning the final sudden-death point with the score poised at 3-3 and 40-40.

In the 10/U final it was deja vu for Owen who was again denied the title by a single point when Sophie de Boer claimed the sudden-death point at 4-4 to emerge winner by 5-4. It was a spirited effort by all players who had to contend with unseasonably warm conditions.

On the final day of the tournament the 12/U players competed in a singles round-robin followed by semi-finals and a final. Players were divided into two groups and proceeded to play each other in their group.
 
After the round-robin, the two players with the most wins in each group went through to the semi-finals. In the first semi-final, Manni Zhang defetaed Koya Chen, while in the other semi-final Akshat Gupta defeated Ridah Nayeemullah, who travelled from Saudi Arabia for the event. In the final Akshat and Manni produced some high quality tennis despite the windy conditions. The match was neck-and-neck until Manni managed to close it out 6-4.
Results:

6/U: Winner - Boudica Verbeek; runner-up - Rayyan Jaghbir; 3rd place - Ayaan Abid; 4th place - Zaynab Wish.

8/U: Winner - Fares Yousaf; runner-up - Owen Verbeek; 3rd place - Miles Verbeek; 4th place - Rohan Mukherjee.

10/U: Winner - Sophie de Boer; runner-up - Owen Verbeek; 3rd place - Sulaiman Algosaibi; 4th place - Kamran Mohammed.

12/U: Winner - Manni Zhang; runner-up - Akshat Gupta; semi-finalists - Ridah Nayeemullah and Koya Chen.