Entries surge for parent child event

Tennis

Record entries have been received for the Wairarapa Tennis Association's Shoe Clinic parent-child doubles tournament at Masterton Tennis Centre on Sunday.

In all, 27 pairings will take to the court, a huge increase on the 17 of 12 months ago.

The three sections in play, 10yrs, 12ys and 13yrs to 16yrs, are defined by the age of the child and the 10yrs grade, in particular, should be keenly contested.

There a former world-ranked player in Belinda Cordwell will team up with her son, Henry, and they can anticipate spirited opposition from Martinborough regional one player Bruce Lovell and his son, Jack, and the Coltons, father Craig and son Shane.

There is no question who will be top seeds in the 12-year division.

That spot is sure to be held by the father-and-daughter combination of Luke and Georgia Atkinson, both of whom play for the Masterton regional one club side.

Opaki's Jon McNab is also a regular on the regional one scene and he will have son Lochie alongside him.

The 13- to 16-year grade could see two other members of the Lovell family to the fore, in this case mother Rhona and daughter Charlotte, but some useful father-son pairings are sure to keep them honest.

All entrants will participate in at least three matches and there will be trophies and prizes for the winners and runners-up, various spot prizes and a sausage sizzle.

Matches in the Wairarapa regional one interclub competition continue tomorrow with Opaki playing Masterton at Masterton and Martinborough up against Gladstone at Gladstone. On the basis of them sharing the spoils in the Shirley Corlett Trophy series, Opaki and Martinborough deserve to start favourites in their respective games but with the composition of sides often changing nothing can ever be guaranteed.