DEFENDING champions Wolmer’s Boys’ and Montego Bay High girls will be defending their respective titles at the annual 2016 Hi-Lyte Sport Drink/All-Island High School Boys and Girls Team Tennis Championships, which begins this morning at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, Piccadilly Road, at 9:00.

Wolmer’s Boys’ are the defending champions for the Under-19 boys, while Montego Bay are the Under-19 girls champion.

Thirty-five schools are participating in the three-day tournament, with the Under-19 boys and girls beginning at 9:00, followed by the Under-16 boys and girls to start at noon, and the Under-14 boys and girls scheduled for 3:00 pm.

Tournament Director David Sanguinetti said the team championships will have several of Jamaica’s top young junior players representing their respective schools – a total of 280 participants in both categories.

“It should be another keen battle between Wolmer’s Boys’ and Hillel Academy should they reach the Under-19 final, while the Montego Bay team, winners of the Under-19 girls title for the past two years, should be strongly challenged by many-time champions Immaculate Conception, who have won the team title for 15 consecutive years,” Sanguinetti said.

Play in the Under-19 team event for boys and girls will be four singles and three doubles, while for the Under-16 boys and girls it will be three singles and two doubles. In the Under-14 category for boys and girls, there will be two singles and one doubles.

The tournament is being played on a knockout basis in each of the age-group categories.

– Gerald Reid