Sports
Jonathan Ramnanansingh
TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Kale Dalla Costa concluded his 2021 Open Casely International Tennis Championship campaign by capturing boys’ Under-16 singles gold in Florida on Thursday.
At the Brian Piccolo Park Tennis Center, Dalla Costa defeated American Kieran Ling 6-4, 7-5 in the final.
In the round of 16, the TT athlete beat Canadian Alexi Roy 6-4, 4-6 (10-5), got past another Canadian Adam Patry 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-final and then bettered American Kieran Lin 6-4, 7-5 in the semi-final. This result saw Dalla Costa bag his second medal of the tourney having earned silver in another Casely Under-16 tournament singles last Tuesday.
There, Dalla Costa battled hard to reach the final but settled for silver in the end as Brazilian Rafael Lessa won 6-0, 6-3 to claim top honours.
In other matches on Thursday, Luca Shamsi missed out on a shot at the boys’ Under-18 singles title as he was ousted 2-6, 2-6 by Canadian Gryffin Minor in the semi-finals. The earlier rounds saw Shamsi triumph 6-3, 6-1 over Canadian Benjamin Mann then win 6-3, 6-0 over Costa Rican Nicolas Garnier.
The only other national player to secure a podium place at the tourney was Jordane Dookie, who held on to bronze in the girls’ Under-14 singles at the first Casely event two weeks ago.
Additionally, at the Little Mo International tournament in Florida, Abba Campbell-Smith earned the girls’ Under-10 back draw singles title.
