During the course of 2018, Anthony Downes played his way to the top, resulting in him being the number 1 tennis player in Guyana for the seventh consecutive year.
This came when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) sought to reward their players for their efforts over the course of 2018, with an award ceremony on Friday evening.
Aside from the task of distributing awards, the event was sprinkled with addresses from a few persons who are close to the Association.
On such person was KA Juman Yassin, President of the Guyana Olympic Association, who took his time to detail technical aspects of being an athlete and encouraged the players present to focus on academics as well.
“I want to say that your academics and sport go hand in hand. You do not deprive or consider your academics less than sports. There are a lot of top athletes who have done well academically, paired with sports,” Juman Yassin advised.
Although the Director of Sport Christopher Jones could not be present, the feature address was delivered by Denroy Tudor, who pledged that the National Sports Commission will be actively involved in the development of tennis.
“So certainly in life continue to play, continue to work hard and the NSC, we will continue to be behind each and every one of you as you represent our country proudly”.
Prolific player Anthony Downes romped to his seventh year as the best senior player in Guyana as he received the award once again on Friday evening. Cristy Campbell was his female companion as she received the senior female award for the third consecutive year.
Expectantly, after a scintillating 2018, Heimraj Resaul walked away with his third best junior award and Kalyca Fraser won her first junior female accolade.
The most improved players were Hayden Mentore and Saskia Persaud, while the coach of the year was Shelly Daly Ramdhyan.
President of the GTA Samuel Barakat, attributed the players’ success to the dedication of their parents.
“Most important in tennis of course, are the parents. One of the things that really encourage me to give my all and ask for executives to give unselfishly their time, their effort their energy is because the parents support their children all year round. From under 10, right up to 18 and then they go off on their own to bigger things in tennis,” Barakat stated.
