2024-07-15
Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, the Hon. Charles Griffith, addressing members of the media during the Barbados Road Tennis Open 2024 Media launch.
This disclosure from Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, the Honourable Charles Griffith, at the launch of the tournament last Friday morning at his SKY Mall Haggatt Hall, St. Michael offices.
Minister Griffith also revealed that this year’s tournament will be held from July 28th to September 22nd, with the finals again being played at the Wildey Gymnasium. He noted that the BRTO 2024, which carries a first prize of $20,000 to both the male and female champions, will be played at four locations, Belfield and Bush Hall, St. Michael, Gall Hill, St. John and Diamond Corner, St. Peter, during the first two weeks.
As the tournament progresses, Barbadians can look forward to seeing the BRTO 2024 being played at several locations in communities across Barbados. Acknowledging that registration of players was lower than the previous year, Minister Griffith posited that this year’s registrants, have already highlighted, that there will be 'a lot of quality players on show and quality is better than quantity'.
In thanking the BRTO’s 2024 sponsors the Nation Publishing Company Limited and Bajan Pure, the Sports Minister celebrated their commitment to supporting government’s vision to moving Barbados’ indigenous sport of road tennis across communities and onto the international stage, by coming on board as major sponsors of the BRTO 2024.
He noted that corporate support such as theirs, was critical to accelerating the impact that this sport can have at the grassroot level, as it transcends to becoming a world sport.
Minister Griffith appealed to Corporate Barbados to join the Nation Publishing Company Limited and Bajan Pure to make the 2024 experience across Barbados, unforgettable. In lending their support to the 2024 BRTO tournament, Paulette Jones, Group Head of Advertising of the Nation Publishing Company Limited and Neil Corbin, Chief Steward of Bajan Pure shared respectively, their corporate commitment and support for the indigenous Barbadian sport.
Notably, both sponsors highlighted the synergy of their companies, the community base of road tennis and the shared 100% Bajan origin in their respective presentations.
In his update on the expansion of road tennis beyond Barbadian shores, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment disclosed that Barbados’ indigenous road tennis product, continues to attract international attention, with Zimbabwe being the latest country to invite Bridgetown to send a delegation to Harare, to showcase the sport there.
Mr. Griffith said a Barbadian contingent was slated to leave this week, but noted the trip has been delayed at Zimbabwe’s request. He expects that in 'a month’s time Barbados will have a contingent of eight persons in Zimbabwe to see how best we can trigger road tennis in that country'.
The Sports Minister also added that Barbados was a few steps away from sending the constitution of the International Road Tennis Federation (IRTF) to the International Olympic Council, as it tries to get road tennis to be an Olympic sport.
“Our end game is to have road tennis at the Olympics at some point in time and the IRTF is at an advanced stage, since we have identified three persons to be directors," he said.
Minister Griffith also lauded the use of line technology in the sport and praised the development of new technologies in road tennis, one of which was demonstrated during the morning launch.
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