The IC Caribbean Tennis Event held in the Bahamas this week came to a successful close with the USA Robins emerging victorious. We congratulate the organizers: IC Bahamas, the winner: Team USA and all the participating nations including Barbados and Canada (International Team).
IC Bahamas President issued the below update on the IC Tournament.
After a full week of competitive tennis with five teams totalling 40 top senior tennis players from the USA, Canada, Barbados and the Bahamas the USA Robins team emerged as the tournament winner. This was with a 3-2 victory on the last day over the other USA team “The Bluebirds”. After some very close matches, the Barbados team made third place with The Canada International team in fourth. The Bahamas team after several very close losses ended in fifth place.
. USA IC President and team player Robb Bunnen said “ This has been a fantastic week of tennis played to a high standard with great camaraderie and sportsmanship. The Bahamas have been wonderful hosts and I know all our team will want to return to The Bahamas again for any future events. We go back to the USA as proud winners with fond memories including many renewed friendships and also with new ones created in the tennis world.”
This was the fifth bi-annual event that was designed around top senior players from forty International Tennis Clubs (IC) around the world. Each inter-country match had two men’s doubles, two mixed doubles and one ladies’ doubles in various age combinations. The event is sponsored by Winterbotham Trust. The Bahamas, captained by Neil Mactaggart, had on its team John Antonas, former Davis Cup and top Caribbean player plus Susan Kimball the ITF World number one ranked lady in the 75+ age category last year. Susan had been a maths teacher for many years in The Bahamas and has kept up contact with The Bahamas tennis world since leaving and returns often. Despite these strong players The Bahamas, while winning several individual matches, unfortunately, did not quite get an
overall team victory. Neil Mactaggart commented “ Although losing our overall matches the team enjoyed some great competition. It was good to once again be competing with strong players, many we have known through years of tennis. With most of the competitors in the 40 to 70 age group, it confirmed Tennis is a “game for life.”
Bahamas IC President, Kit Spencer, as a former British tennis player, who played on the International team commented “ With a wonderful week of weather there has not only been some great competitive tennis but I think we have been able to showcase The Bahamas to our visiting teams. The matches were played at the historic Nassau Lawn Tennis Club, first established in 1880. It is one of the oldest tennis clubs in the whole Americas region and the same age as Wimbledon. At our final night presentation dinner we had a Bahamian menu with The Curbside Rockers “Rake and Scrape” duo playing the steel drum and saw. This gave a taste of some Bahamian culture which delighted our USA teams and had our fellow Caribbean team from Barbados joining in. Also thanked was local sponsor Winterbotham Trust for their continued support of this and other tennis events such as The recent IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge that The Bahamas also hosted.
Original Post Date: 1/21/2023
