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2016 Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships Start off Strong!
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massive-dev | October 27, 2016
Day 1 of the 2016 Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships saw several exciting matches play out at the UBC Tennis Centre. Many BC athletes came away with wins.
The event kicked off with an opening ceremony that was attended by:
- Representing the City of Vancouver, Deputy Mayor, Heather Deal
- Representing the Vancouver Park Board, Commissioner Michael Wiebe
- Janet Petras, Director of Wheelchair Tennis & Manager of National Events for Tennis Canada
- Betty Birmingham, our generous event sponsor
- Kavie Toor, Director of Facilities and Business Development for the UBC Department of Athletics & Recreation
- Lisa Kwiatkowski, and JJ Mahoney from the University of British Columbia
- Mark Roberts, Executive Director Tennis BC
- Students from Ecole Jules Quesnel singing the national anthem
Several BC athletes stood out. Paralympian Yuka Chokyu won 6-0, 6-0 against Natalia Lanucha. Scott Patterson won both of his matches in men’s singles, and then combined with Ross MacDonald to win in men’s doubles. Though Thomas Venos lost to Rio 2016 Paralympian Phillipe Bedard, he rallied to best Johnathan Tremblay 6-4, 6-2. The most exciting match of the day, however, was played by Kyle Gieni, who narrowly lost 6-7(5) 7-5 6-1 against Jason Betker.
Tomorrow’s matches will begin at 8:00 am tomorrow and continue throughout the day. Today’s results can be seen on the Tennis Canada website.
