IC Spain wins Compass Junior Challenge

IC of Spain won today the IC Compass Junior Challenge after a very tight final tie with Great Britain.  Two-all after the singles and with two sets ahead for the British team, the Spaniards were able to fight back and win both the boys and girls doubles matches in the championship tie break of the third set. 

IC of Spain is now qualified for the finals in Monte Carlo with Argentina who qualified in the South American Challenge last week. Three more continental challenges are still to take place; the third one will be held in Singapore with the Asian teams in October. Washington will be the venue of the North American Challenge and the South African challenge will take place in Johannesburg. 

This edition saw teams from Italy, Ireland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Great Britain and Spain in action. The players also had the opportunity to take part in an on-court clinic with a special group, to visit the Sagrada Familia and Barcelona FC museum. 

Two sportsmanship awards were also made during the tournament. Spanish #1 Marina Bassols won the girls' prize, while Miha Perus of Slovenia won the boys' award.  

The IC Junior Challenge started more than a decade ago when two of the International Club’s great leaders, Frank Sedgman (Australian Grand Slam champion and now President of the Council of all the International Clubs) and Athol Tills (at that time President of the IC New Zealand but who sadly died last year) realized that the juniors from both their respective countries did not get enough exposure to international competitions, especially team competitions, to improve their game.

Today, the competition sponsored by Compass Group has regional challenges in five areas and the winners of each group meet at the World Compass Challenge the following year.