Tahiti, September 4, 2023 – The Beach Tennis Tahiti association opened its 2023/2024 calendar on Saturday at Parc Paofai. Sylvain Didier and Patoia Teriipaia created a surprise in men’s doubles by dominating in the final the unbeatable duo on the local circuit for two years: Haunui Montas and Mathias Coenye.
Beach tennis players returned to competition on Saturday after a three-month break. On the program on the sand ground of Paofai Park, a tournament featuring three tables, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The competition brought together around fifty participants, including the local elite who are sharpening their skills a few weeks before the international tournament which will take place in Paofai in October.
The final of the men’s doubles table caused a sensation on Saturday, with the victory in two sets (6/0.7/6) of Sylvain Didier and Patoia Teriipaia against the duo Haunui Montas / Mathias Coenye, made up of the numbers 1 and 2 of local tennis in simple and generally unbeatable when playing together in doubles. The experience of Sylvain Didier and the power of Patoia Teriipaia, who also plays at a high level in Tahitian tennis, constituted the ideal cement to disrupt the opposing game.
Béatrice Cousinet, for her part, scored a double by clearly winning (6/1.6/2) in the women’s doubles final with Tai Taerea against the duo Aurélie Buhagiar/Vaea Dellapina, then by repeating the final of the mixed doubles (4 /2.5/3) associated, this time, with Sylvain Didier who also scored twice against Tai Tearea and Paul-Emmanuel Edelline.
It’s only the beginning of the season but informed observers have noticed that the overall level of Tahitian beach tennis continues to improve. This is confirmed by Yankell Claverie, who launched beach tennis at Fenua in 2017 and who is now honorary president of the Beach Tennis Tahiti association.
First ITF labeled international tournament
The next competition will take place from October 11 to 15 at Paofai Park. And it will mark the history of local beach tennis since it will be the first international tournament organized in Tahiti and labeled ITF, that is to say that it appears on the calendar of the International Tennis Federation. Two international tournaments had been organized in Tahiti in 2018 and 2019 but not under the aegis of the ITF. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for the Tahitian tournament is likely to suffer from competition from a major international tournament taking place at the same time in Brazil. Tournament whose reputation and amount of price money will attract the best in the world.
However, the organizers of the Tahitian tournament, with a prize money of 400,000 francs, are counting on the participation of around twenty external players with Caledonians, Americans and perhaps Reunionese whose level is very high. The opportunity to emphasize that the world number 1 in the discipline is Nicolas Gianoti from Reunion. The latter will undoubtedly make the trip to Brazil. The event is still likely to boost the dynamics of Tahitian beach tennis and expand its workforce, which should number around 150 members this season.
2023-09-05 00:23:00
#Beach #tennis #launched #season
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