IC U16 JUNIOR CHALLENGE WORLDWIDE FINALS

IC of GB to host the IC U16 Junior Challenge Worldwide Finals on the Championship courts at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in July 2014.

Open to all 40 ICs around the world, the U16 Junior Challenge is the IC Council’s premier junior event.

The 2014 worldwide finals are proudly sponsored by Compass Group and will feature representative teams from the host nation Great Britain and the ICs of Italy, Japan, South Africa, Argentina and the USA, who qualified following a series of regional events that took place in 2013.

The opening round of matches will take place at Wimbledon on Monday 28th July and the tournament will comprise of a round-robin format over a five day period, concluding on Friday 1st August.  The referee for the event is Clare Wood, former professional player and assistant referee at The Championships, Wimbledon.

David Waite, Chairman of the IC of Great Britain said: “It’s a great honour to host such an important event in the IC Calendar; junior players represent the lifeblood of the IC family.  The IC Junior Challenge is highly competitive but it also encourages a spirit of fair play and sportsmanship among the next generation of players.

“We are grateful to The All England Lawn Tennis Club for acting as the host venue and providing such a prestigious opportunity for all involved.”

Each IC team will be represented by two U16 boys and two U16 girls, plus an adult captain/coach.  Matches are to start daily at 11am and will feature two boys’ singles, two girls’ singles, one boys’ doubles and one girls’ doubles.  In the event of a tie (3 matches all), there will be a 10-point match tiebreak played by one mixed doubles pair from each side.  Final positions will be determined by the number of tie wins. 

In keeping with the spirit of the IC, the 2014 worldwide finals will also feature a clinic for underprivileged children to be held at Wimbledon on the eve of the event.

Kit Spencer, IC Council member and lead representative for the IC Junior Challenge said: “This is the fifth worldwide finals since the event’s inception in 2005.  It has a strong history of attracting some of the world’s best junior players and more than 600 players have now participated in both regional qualifying events and worldwide finals, with many more involved in outreach programmes.  The IC Junior Challenge has become a real showcase for all of the great work done by players and volunteers from ICs around the world.”