JOHN Azar, president of Tennis Jamaica (TJ), says his organisation will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) ongoing junior championship is a success.

The championships, which started on Monday at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston, will see Jamaica’s top junior male and female players matching strides with players from Hong Kong, Germany, Australia, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States.

The players are all competing for valuable world junior ranking points at the championships scheduled to end on Saturday.

Azar said the tournament is a massive opportunity for the Jamaican junior players to test their skills against some of the world’s top players, and TJ is doing all it can to ensure that every participant has a great experience.

“We are very happy with the support that we have gotten from international players, not only for these two events but for the upcoming events for the summer as well,” said Azar in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“We are doing everything in our power to make sure that the events are a success, and to make sure that the officiating is up to a particular standard, and to make sure that our visiting players have an excellent experience — win, lose or draw,” he said.

Jamaica’s charge on the boys’ side will be led by the island’s top junior Daniel Azar, who returned to the island on the weekend, alongside a strong contingent from the prestigious Saddlebrook Tennis Academy in Tampa, Florida, where he is currently attending school.

Azar, who is seeded fifth in the tournament, will bow into action on today. Other Jamaicans in the main draw on the boys’ side include Kyle and Kahj Clarke, Jairden Gibbs, Kyle Forrester, Kosei Gibbs and Jamar Parkinson.

A number of local girls will also be in main draw contention, including Courtney Chin, Xenya Miller-Brown, Kyra Terman, and Savannah Taylor.

Azar noted that his organisation will be staging six ITF junior tournaments throughout this year, with the second one scheduled for May 7 at the same venue.

Meanwhile, ITF Referee Tanios Kanaan said “We received over 40 entries on the boys’ side and over 20 on the girls’ for week one…the second week promises to be even bigger”.