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Serving the heat
Improving youths, blistering temperatures highlight
CATA tennis tourney
Joe Nguyen, editor
July 4, 2007
1 | Photo
gallery
Photo by Joe Nguyen |
Thi
Than delivers a backhand shot against
Buu Le and Sue Nguyen in the second
round of mixed doubles play during the
second annual Colorado Asian Tennis
Tournament July 1 at the Arvada Tennis
Center. Than and his partner, Uyen Mai,
lost 9-3.
[Photo
gallery] |
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ARVADA – The only thing that could slow down the
fast action of the second annual Colorado Asian Tennis
Tournament was the scorching heat June 30 and July 1 at
the Arvada Tennis Center.
Temperatures hit the high 90s on Saturday and reached
100 degrees on Sunday, causing some players to withdraw
because of injuries.
“We called it the 'cramp marathon tournament,'”
Colorado Asian Tennis Association president Hai Ho said.
“Cramp because we had four casualties. Marathon
because people were so enthusiastic that they signed up
for two brackets.”
Despite the heat, there was an increase in participants
from the previous year with more than 80 people playing.
The overwhelming majority of the players were of Vietnamese
descent. Ho said that he tried to attract more non-Vietnamese
players with advertising and exposure, but wasn't able
to reach his goal.
“I would say that a healthy ratio would be 70 percent
Vietnamese and 30 percent the rest,” he said about
his plan for next year. “We want to see new faces.”
Something that was seen as a success was the improvement
in skill among younger players.
“The kids are inspired by the sport and the community
coming together,” Ho said. “I'm certain they
look forward every year to demonstrate how much they improved
and get the praises from the adults.”
Ho's son, Alex – the 2006 Junior champion –
won the Men's singles C title, defeating Hung Nguyen,
9-4, before winning the doubles C title with Nguyen over
Duke Tran and Tommy Le, 9-7.
In other matches, Minh Phan defeated Alex Lu, 4-6, 7-6,
10-6, to win the Men's singles B trophy.
In the Men's singles A bracket, Alex Le beat Mike Chong,
9-3.
On the women's side, Hieu Nguyen won, 7-5, over Nkaolue
M. in the C bracket.
In the Women's singles B bracket, Thao Phan defeated
Joan C., 9-2.
In the Junior singles bracket, Andrew Tran defeated Joe
Yoshimura in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-2).
In doubles action, Christina Tran and Loan Cao repeated
as champions, defeating Marie Nguyen and Elle Salinas,
9-5.
Khoi Nguyen and Tuan Cao won the Men's B doubles trophy,
3-2, after Hoa Le and Phuoc Dang pulled out because of
injury.
In Men's doubles A, Larry Doan and Vu Tran beat brothers
Jay and Don Yoshimura, 9-6.
The mixed doubles and Women's singles A finals have been
postponed for a later date.
Hai Ho said he plans on scheduling the tournament for
an earlier and cooler time next year.
“Next year I'm going to move this to June,”
he said. “It was aggravating (with) the injuries
this year.”
For complete results and more information about the Colorado
Asian Tennis Association, go to http://www.coloradoasiantennis.com.
Joe Nguyen is the editor in chief of AsiaXpress.com.
Joe can be contacted via e-mail at joe@asiaxpress.com.
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