Dundalk Tennis Club to host international championship
Junior International Tennis Federation Championship returns
Dundalk Tennis, Badminton & Squash Club will host the Junior International Tennis Federation (ITF) Championships which will attract hundreds of visitors to the town this summer.
This will be the third time that the local club has been chosen to hold the tournament, a world ranking competition which is included in the top junior international players’ circuit as they travel the globe.
The ITF Championships take place from Monday, July 31st through to Friday, August 4th. Players, along with their entourage, will begin to arrive into Dundalk a number of days beforehand and are expected to stay for up to two weeks.
Understandably, club president Jill Steeples said she was very proud that the Ramparts based club, with the invaluable support of John McGahon of MacX Academy, had successfully secured the championship’s return to Dundalk.
“We are honoured to be welcoming the top international junior players to Dundalk,” she said.
“It also gives our junior club members the opportunity to see on the organisation that goes into a full scale Junior Championship as well as the importance of the whole club membership getting involved in one way or another.”
“Our badminton and squash members are more than happy to support the event and put up with the hundreds of people using the premises over the two weeks!
“A good number of adult members play a wide variety of roles and our junior members take part as ball boys and ball girls. It’s a fantastic experience.
“This year we will also have the added pleasure of seeing two of our members — and MacX Academy players — Oisin Murtagh and Maria Perla Biansumba competing in the championships itself.”
Steeples also acknowledged the championship’s benefit to the local economy.
“Our visitors will spend hundreds of bed nights in Dundalk. They’re not on the courts all the time so they shop and have something to eat locally; they use taxis and minibuses to ferry them and their equipment to and from hotels.
“Thanks to Dundalk Tourist Office, we have maps and information to hand so they can really get as much out of their visit to Dundalk as possible”.
