CNMI to host NPJC this week

The CNMI will be hosting the renamed North Pacific Junior Championships this week at the American Memorial Park and Pacific Islands Club Saipan tennis courts.

A total of 25 of the islands’ top 16-and-under tennis players will challenge the best from Guam, Palau, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia during the six-day tourney organized by the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association and funded by the Oceania Tennis Federation and International Tennis Federation.

Homegrown netters seeing action in the boys and girls 16 are June Yu, Nason Wessel, Siwoo Lee, Henry Choi, Kiwon Lee, Taher Shakir, Irin Chung, Hoo Wang, Hannah Chae, and Anna Kwon. The boys and girls 14 division will have Ryan Choi, Ian Chae, Jihun Park, Matthew Hwang, Anne Lee, Lina Tsukagoshi, Vivian Chung, and Jenna Pascual.

Meanwhile, Michael Jeon, Daniel Kang, Matt Zhu, Seungwoo Lee, Stella Choi, Emma Lang, and Selina Chi will lead the charge in the boys and girls 12 age group.

Top junior netters Yu, Wang, Chung, and Anne Lee said they’re all thrilled to face topnotch competition from across the ocean on home soil.

“I’m super thrilled and excited to play in the NPJC and I love how it’s our home court. I’m ready to show what I have practiced throughout the year and make the ticket to Fiji. Since this is my last year in the junior event, I’m going to try my best and make lots of memories with other players from different islands,” said Wang.

“I am very excited and I am ready to play my matches,” said Yu, a veteran of the Junior Davis Cup in Sri Lanka last March.

“I’m looking forward to all the teams and am really excited about this tournament this week,” said Lee.

“I’m very excited to be competing against players from different countries. I think the NPJC and [Pacific Oceania Junior Championships] are the tournaments that get me most excited every year,” said Chung.

The CNMI junior netters’ coaches in the 2024 North Pacific Junior Championships are Jeff Race, Colin Ramsey, and Moris Villanueva.

“This is our first international junior event since COVID-19 to host and we are very excited. I think our kids are going to do very well. They have trained hard and are well prepared,” said Race.

Along with CNMI junior netters, Race expects 70 players from Guam, Palau, FSM, and Nauru to see action in the tourney, which used to be called North Pacific Regional Championships.