Antigua and Barbuda’s Williams Spearheads Move To Restart OECS Tennis Competition

0
357
1 cordell oecs
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Tennis Association (ABTA) and former player, Cordell Williams
- Advertisement -

By Neto Baptiste

Efforts are being made to revive the once popular OECS tennis competition in hopes of providing players within the sub-region with another avenue through which to put their talents on display.

President of the Antigua and Barbuda Tennis Association (ABTA) and former player Cordell Williams, said he is spearheading plans to revive the competition and rekindling rivalries through the OECS.

“I have been speaking to Grenada and St Kitts and I’m trying to get St Lucia and the other islands on board. St Kitts is willing, Grenada is yeah and nay, but it’s just for us because we are talking but we just have to meet and make it happen,” he said. 

Williams, who said he has been pushing for the return of the sub-regional completion for some time now, believes it will fill the void for many players who are too advanced to play at the junior level but who are trying to break into the professional market.

“That would even help our local players to at least be competitive like is was back in the 80s and late 90s when we used to play so once we could get that OECS tennis thing start back up then we should be able to have better players that we having today because even if they cannot go out and play some of these major tournaments like Jody Maginley, at least we’d have competition amongst the other islands,” the coach said.

Although talks are in the preliminary stages, Williams is optimistic that Antigua and Barbuda could host the first instalment of the new OECS tournament by 2023.

- Advertisement -