Williams, Francis are RTA Under-12 singles winners
MiKale Williams from Hillel and Mia Francis from Immaculate Conception captured the boys’ and girls’ Under-12 singles titles, respectively, at the 2019 Russell Tennis Academy (RTA) Kingston Prep Schools Tennis Championships at Hillel Academy recently.
The event was the second in the series organised by RTA Director Rayne Russell, and sponsored by Hi-Lyte and Juici Patties.
Williams defeated Daniel Gordon 4-0 to win the boys’ 12 and under title, while Francis beat Gabrielle Christian from American International School of Kingston (AISK) 4-2 to win the girls’ 12 and under title.
The boys’ eight and under singles was won by Xander Cheeks from Hillel, after he clipped teammate Elliott Scott 3-2. This was the second-straight title Cheeks was winning as he had captured the same event in series one of the Kingston Prep Schools Championship Series held a few weeks earlier.
Ramelho Carminho from AISK was the winner of the girls’ eight and under singles title after she defeated Taylor Sienna of Immaculate in the final.
The boys’ six and under singles title was won by William Wan from Hillel after defeating Caelan Clover 3-1 with Felix Osbourne from AISK finishing third.
Azariah Daniels from Mona Prep defeated Sasha Biradar from Hillel 3-0 to win the girls’ six and under singles title. Daniels has now won two titles in the series. Kaiko Mai from Sts Peter and Paul finished third.
Meanwhile, Russell said that he was pleased with the level of tennis and was looking towards having more prep schools on board for the next event in the series on May 4.
“We work with the kids of all ages, whether they are beginners, intermediate or advanced, and as an Academy, our aim is to create a foundation to develop players to achieve tennis scholarships and to hopefully represent Jamaica on the international stage,” Russell said.
— Gerald Reid