Anonym / 23 December 2010 / Categories: Junior Activity, Recent Results and Events Britain wins IC Junior Challenge Finals in India The finals of the Junior Challenge event of the Council of International Clubs (ICs) sponsored by Airtel and DP World of India and the Compass Group have just finished in New Delhi with the team of the IC of Great Britain being victorious over Germany in a hotly contested tie. The finals are being held every two years with qualifying matches held in the previous year covering North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The participating teams of two boys and two girls of 16 and under accompanied by an adult captain qualified from last year’s regional challenges held on each continent. They were Germany, USA, GB, New Zealand (holders) India and Brazil. At the last minute Brazil’s team couldn’t make the journey and India was invited to field a second team. The event was brilliantly organised by the All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) and the IC of India. It was opened by Bhupender Singh Hooda, the Chief Minister of Haryana State, in attendance of some 500 local school children and 150 adopted children. The opening ceremony included a presentation of the teams and a demonstration of wheelchair tennis. A colourful tsunami dance was performed by children orphaned by the disaster in 2004 who are being trained to play tennis and dance. Other officials present during the tournament were Anil Khanna, Executive Vice-President of the AITA, Daljit Wallia, President of the IC of India, Barry Weatherill, Chairman of the IC Council and Julian Tatum of the IC Council responsible for the Junior Challenge event. The finals are played on a round-robin basis. The champion team is the one with most wins. In case of a tie the winner is decided by a mixed doubles “champions’ tie break”. This is always an exciting way to define the winner rather than doing it by any mathematical percentage win/loss method. The tournament format resulted in some very exciting ties. In the round-robin India beat Germany by narrowly winning in a mixed doubles tiebreak, despite the latter having had 4 match points. Nevertheless both ICs managed to qualify for the semi-finals where Germany this time edged out India again in a deciding mixed doubles. The final was attended by Meira Kumar, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. Despite having lost to them earlier in the round-robin the IC of GB only just got the better of Germany in yet another champions’ tie break to claim the title. The British players were Alannah Griffin, Harriet Dart, Tom Hill and Tommy Bennett with Helen Reesby and Chris Lewis as captains. The matches were played in the spirit of good sportsmanship which is the hallmark of IC events. Please click here to view further images of the event >> Print 12205