By Stephen Mallov
TRURO, N.S. – Truro tennis players achieved success on their home courts last weekend during the Atlantic junior championships.
The Truro brother-sister duo of Caden and Joni Colburne fared extremely well, with Caden capturing the title in the U10 boys division with a 4-0, 4-1 win over No. 1-seeded Sebastien Nguyen. He also reached the semifinals of U12 division before losing to the second seed. Joni, the youngest player in the tournament, at seven years old, finished second in U10 girls, and teamed up with Caden to finish second in the boys doubles division as well.
Also taking home some hardware for Truro were Meghna Anand and Sofia Gonzalez. Meghna won the U12 girls titles in singles, defeating Maggie Chong in the final, who earlier in the day beat Sofia in a hard-fought semifinal. Shaking off her loss to Chong, Sofia rebounded to capture the third-place match Paige Ramsey. Meghna captured a second medal with a third-place victory in U14 girls singles, and teamed with Sofia to win U16 girls doubles.
With these wins, both Meghna and Sofia have qualified for the Canadian junior championships in August.
Zachary Verboom and Clarke Fullerton were the final two competitors from Truro. Zach reached the quarterfinals in both U14 and U16 boys singles, and lost an extremely close final with partner Matthew Bennett in the U14 doubles. Clarke, competing in the final Atlantics of his junior career, reached the U18 boys semi in singles and doubles, before losing to the No. 1 seed in both categories.
The championships were a culmination of months of hard work and preparation by players, coaches, volunteers and employees.
Stephen Mallov is marketing manager for the Cougar Dome.
