Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Barte sizzles in Bangladesh By Marianne L. Saberon-Abalayan
AFTER the Hong Kong debacle, Davao City netter Ralph Kevin Barte proved he's still a force to reckon with after he and partner Hsu-Chun Huang of Chinese Taipei captured the boys doubles title of the 5th BKSP International Junior Tennis Championship at the BKSP Tennis Complex in Bangladesh over the weekend.
The Barte-Huang pair pulled off a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) victory over the Korean pair of Seo and Kim. Chinese Taipei's Liu and Chen emerged champion in girls doubles after beating compatriots Cheng and Wu, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2.
Indians Iyer Venkat and Kyra Shroff swept the boys and girls singles titles.
Venkat routed Jae-Beom Kim of South Korea 6-3, 6-2 while Shroff whipped Nigora Sirojiddinova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-1.
BKSP Director General M Najib Hasan, who was guest of honor, also awarded the prizes to the winners during the closing rites.
Barte, however, will still stay in Bangladesh to campaign for honors in two other tournaments - the Rajshahi International Junior Tennis Championships 2007 on January 30 to February 4 at the Zafar Iman Tennis Complex in Bangladesh and the Bangladesh International Junior Championships at the National Tennis Complex, Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 7 to 12.
The former Palarong Pambansa champion will soon end his juniors career and focus on men's open tournaments when he turns 18 years old this year.
Barte, however, will either accept a varsity scholarship offer at the De La Salle University (DLSU) or enroll at the Tennis Academy in the USA.
