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| 11 Aug 2003 | |
| Draw and Opening Ceremony |
The 13th World Junior Tennis Finals got off to an exciting start with the Opening Ceremony featuring three world champion parachutists landing in spectacular fashion onto the centre court of the beautiful TK Plus Tennis Club on Monday 11th August. This daring entrance marked the beginning of the weeklong event which runs from 11th to 16th August 2003.
Sponsored by Ceska Sporitelna and Cesky Telecom the Finals are hosted by TK Plus, Prostejov in the Czech Republic for the fifth consecutive year and 32 teams from 26 nations will participate in the ITF junior team competition for boys and girls aged 14 and under. A total of 74 nations fought through tough regional qualifying rounds held earlier in the year in Africa, Asia/Oceania, Europe, North/Central America and Caribbean and South America.
All 32 teams were present for the exciting draw for the competition which was made on Sunday 10th August by Stephane Cretois, ITF Gold Badge Referee, assisted by Mr Vlastimil Michlicek, from joint sponsor Ceska Sporitelna.
Mr Luca Santilli, Manager, Juniors & Vets Tennis, ITF, commented on the draw: “The competition should be very exciting as the standard of all of the players is very high this year and so we eagerly await some close ties throughout the week.”
In the boys’ competition, defending champions USA, seeded No.1, are hoping to return home once again with the silverware but will first have to overcome fierce challenges, particularly from the Czech Republic and Croatia.
Meanwhile, the girls’ event promises to provide some very exciting tennis, featuring some particularly successful teams. There are high expectations for the number one seeds Russia who have a very strong line up this year and will be hoping to return home with the trophy that they last held aloft in 2000. The Czech Republic team led by Nicole Vaidisova (currently no 39 on the ITF ranking) will try very hard to ensure that the trophy remains on Czech soil. Another strong contender is Romania, whose number one player, Raluca Olaru, recently won the Under 14 European Individual Championships held in Vichy, France.
Daily reports and on-site photos will be available at www.itfjuniors.com from 11th August 2003.
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