Alicia Coté Makes Successful Debut On The International Stage
Mexico City - With the A team at a Pre- Commonwealth Games training camp in Hungary, a team made up of Junior players got a chance to compete at the PANAM Olympic Sports Festival, a PANAM GAMES Qualifier for Toronto 2015. For the two Canadian teams it was an opportunity to gather experience on the international courts, since the Latin American teams entered mostly their A teams.
In this highly competitive environment, 14 year old Alicia Coté from Drummondville, QC made a successful debut on the Canadian Women's team. Going into the competition as the number 3 on the team she came out as the clear number 1.
The women's team lost a close first match against El Salvador (2-3) with Coté and Jiabao Liu contributing the two points for Canada. Then the team won against the Dominican Republic 3-1 with Coté leading the team with 2 points and Liu contributing the third point. This win put Canada into the Quarter Finals where Brazil proved too strong for the Canadian youngsters and Canada lost 0-3.
In the Singles competition, Coté had two match points against #6 seed Rheann Chung of Trinidad and Tobago but lost by the closest of margins, 10-12 in the fifth. To secure a place in the main draw, Coté went on to upset Paloma Sarmiento of Colombia.
"Alicia is keeping cool in close situations, and plays very smart in decisive moments," analyzes the coach of the Canadian women's team Yongjun Duan. "This is a great quality for such a young player."
As the lone Canadian player in the main draw, Coté faced Lineth Vila (Dominican Republic) in her first round match and won convincingly 4-1. Then the draw pit Coté against the #1 seed, Yadira Silva who ended the young Canadian's unexpected run.
With a 5-3 win/loss record, Coté announced her intent to fight for a spot on Canada's 2015 PANAM Games team.
Antoine Bernadet Shows Great Improvement in Mexico City
As with the women, a trio of Canadian Junior boys travelled to Mexico City to compete in the men's competition of the PANAM Olympic Sport Festival; and, as on the women's side, a young Quebec athlete led the team in results.
18 year old Antoine Bernadet from Quebec City put in a credible performance in the team competition as well as in the Singles.
Contributing 2 points to Canada's 3-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago gave Bernadet a good start to the competition. Filip Ilijevski and Jeremy Hazin (both ON) added the third point with a doubles win. Despite a loss against the Dominican Republic, the team advanced to the quarter finals where Brazil was too strong for the Canadians (Brazil 3, Canada 1)
In the Men's Singles, Antoine Bernadet faced the #1 seed, Marcos Madrid from Mexico in the group stage, played a respectable match but lost 1-3. To keep his chances alive, Bernadet upset the Dominican Republic's Isaac Vila 3-0. Bernadet's team mates, Ilijevski and Hazin, also advanced to the main draw.
Humberto Nahani (BRA) ended Filip Ilijevski's hopes, while Ricardo Villa from the host Mexico stopped Jeremy Hazin's progress, both Canadians lost by a score of -14.
However, Antoine Bernadet eliminated another player from the Dominican Republic, Samuel Galvez, to reach the top 16. There, #2 seed Vitor Ishy (BRA) - against whom Bernadet won in the team competition - eliminated the Canadian by a score of 4-1.
A record of 5 wins and 2 losses is a respectable result for the young Canadian highlighting his improvement over the last few months.