The Cook Islands junior tennis team representatives resurrected themselves in the second week of the Oceania Junior Closed Championships in Fiji.

Team manager Tangi Amataiti says the Tamarua Payne and Lillian Maui both played some exceptional tennis, says Amataiti.

”They pushed themselves hard.“

The pair were up against some very classy Australian players in a draw of 64 Oceania participants, with both making the semi finals of the consolation plate.

Maui went down to Claudia Furdi from Australia in two love all sets.

The overall girls OCJ champion was Lizette Cabrera of Australia.

For Payne, it was not to be as he lost in the finals of his consolation plate match against another Pacific counterpart, James Elliot from Norfolk Islands.

It was a brutal blow to Payne who played with his heart on the line for a tight 6-4 7-6(5) score.

The Australians showed their dominance in tennis at this OCJC tournament so the development and experience for Payne and Maui was immense.

With two more years at this level, Payne will be looking to improve his performance at next year’s meet.

Back in the plate division, the remainder of the Pacific participants of the POJC played in the Oceania Plate, with a junior and senior boys and girls division.

The Cook Islands boys of Roland Neururer and Jake Bergman dominated their pool playoffs winning five games from five to play off for the division title in the finals.

Bergman battled hard, but went down in two tight sets 7-6(5), 6-3 to Fiji’s Krishan Raju .

In the same junior division, 11-year-old Elijah Amataiti did battle against the 15-year-olds to hold his overall eigth position over the two week duration of tennis.

Playing in the finals of the senior boys, Neururer conquered his rival Tito Tebatibunga of Kiribati, in two sets 6-2 6-4.

This win will provide the much needed confidence for Neururer who lost to Tabatibunga in the POJC a week earlier.

With another two years of play on the junior circuit, Neururer has proved that he is capable of being a serious contender for the OJCC tournament, and he will be focused on this goal for 2013.

The team returned home at the weekend and were no doubt pampered by their parents and families after two weeks of tennis in Fiji.

Tennis Cook Islands president Madeilene Sword says that the results by the young team are the best seen in a while.

”These two events are our annual Olympics for junior tennis in the region and this year’s results are the best we’ve seen in a while, so I’m really pleased with the players’ performances,“ says Sword.

”There is always room for massive improvement if we want our kids to enjoy the view at the top of the tennis table – it involves some big money, but I think it’s a worthy investment in our youth’s futures.“

The tennis family would like to acknowledge the support of sponsors of the recent quiz night fundraiser, ANZ Bank, and the tennis community for their constant support without which it would be difficult for these kids to realise an opportunity such as this, to showcase their talents and be able to benchmark themselves against other kids in Oceania.

On the home front, Sword advises all the kids having a break from tennis over the past fortnight that the junior tennis programme run by national coach Malcolm Kajer will be back operating to normal by the end of this month.