TELECOMMUNICATION GIANTS Cable and Wireless pledged their continued support to the all-island Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) tennis competition with at least $1 million worth of sponsorship this year.
In addition to that, they have also announced plans for providing a full scholarship to the University of Technology.
Over 50 schools and close to 600 competitors are expected to take part in this year's competition, a marked increase from the eight schools which took part when Cable and Wireless began sponsoring the competition in 1995. Speaking at Monday's launch at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, newly-elected president of the association, Philip Gore, said:
"It is very important for us and we are glad for their continued support. The high schools competition is our main of three programmes and without their sponsorship it would not be possible," he said.
REFURBISHING PLANS
He also outlined plans for the refurbishing of the Eric Bell Tennis Centre and also the establishing of centres in Montego Bay, Mandeville and Ocho Rios.
Matches will be played on a regional basis with the teams from the parishes divided into eastern, central and western sections. Having served off on Monday, it will continue over the next two and a half months on a round-robin format, with the final scheduled for April 7.
Three new schools are participating this year - St Andrew, Irwin High and Montpelier High. Gore indicated that his company, Gore Investments, will also be funding a full tennis scholarship to the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The competition has to date facilitated quite a few national representatives including, Eldad Campbell, Christopher Martin, scholarship awardee Tinesta Rowe, now at Fresno State University in California and Davis Cup team member Demar Johnson.
