Three Central Coast tennis prospects featured in the second Ultimate Fiji Tennis Cup. Joel Fell, Caleb Familton and Dayne King competed in the four-day competition as part of a five-player Australian team which took on 10 Fijian prospects in the towns of Nadi, Lautoka and Denarau Island.
The Australians, who are all students of the Central Coast Sports College at Kariong, ran out winners of the competition, which featured a two-day round robin tournament, a knockout tournament and a Davis Cup-style teams event. College Tennis Coach, Steven Hamburger, led the Australian team at the tournament.
Hamburger said it was a great event which exposed his players to some unique playing conditions. “It has been an awesome tour with different Fijian players coming in each day to give our boys some good competition, ” he said. Despite being a whirlwind experience, Hamburger said the Cup was not without its challenges.
“The boys struggled with the heat. “They got better as the week went on, but after the warm up on the first day, they were gone. “They are used to playing in hot conditions in Australia, but it is nothing like the humidity of Fiji, ” he said. Fiji team coach, Krishneel Kumar, said the competition was a terrific development opportunity for aspiring Fijian tennis players.
“The benefit of this tournament for our Fijian players is that it gives us a different level of competition that we don’t usually get in Fiji, ” he explained. “It costs a lot of money to travel to Australia and get that exposure, so we are very lucky to have Australian players coming here to help us develop our game.
“The Ultimate Fiji Tennis Cup has a lot of potential. “Last year we had only six Fijian players, now we have 10, and I am hoping to have around 20 next year, ” he said. Ultimate Fiji Tennis Cup Director, Bruce Tilt, hailed the tournament a success and thanked Tennis Fiji for supporting the competition.
“It was great to see the progression of the competition from 2018 to 2019, ” Tilt said. “We really want to give Fijian and Australian players the opportunity to play against different opposition which I believe will help each individual improve as a player, ” he said.
Source: Media release, Dec 18 Dylan Arvela, Ultimate Fiji