As Barbados continues efforts to position its global brand and attract new interest in the areas of investment, exports, culture, tourism, and sport, it is currently playing host to the women’s champion of the Expo 2020 Dubai Road Tennis Tournament. It was held by Invest Barbados from December 10 to 17, 2021.
Belgium-based Emma Hoang and her male counterpart, Christophe Nickels, from Luxembourg, reigned supreme in the road tennis competition, held at the Sports, Fitness and Wellbeing Hub.
There were 36 participants in the tournament, which followed a week of coaching clinics facilitated by top road tennis players from Barbados, among them Mark “Venom” Griffith and Julian “Michael Jackson” White; Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Road Tennis Association (PRTA), Dale Clarke; Aaron Barker, Tito Ellis, and Winslow Birkett.
As their grand prize, Ms. Hoang and Mr. Nickels each received a seven-day trip to Barbados, including accommodation and airline tickets, compliments of British Airways, along with an island tour.
The female road tennis champion arrived on the island on Saturday, February 18, and while here, will visit several places of interest and engage in road tennis activities.
Chief Executive Officer of Invest Barbados, Kaye-Ann Greenidge, said she was especially pleased to welcome Ms. Hoang to Barbados and for the opportunity to again promote the indigenous game of road tennis to non-Barbadians.
Reflecting on the competition, Greenidge said: “As the lead agency for the Barbados Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, we were at the forefront of showcasing Barbados to the world, and what better way to do this than through road tennis, which is uniquely Barbadian? The tournament we held was nothing short of a success, and there was quite a bit of interest from players like Hoang, and Nickels, who we look forward to welcoming to Barbados at a later date.”
The CEO added: “Barbados was among 190 countries that participated in the World Expo themed: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. Our participation provided an excellent opportunity to promote the island as a premier destination for tourism and investment to the residents of the UAE and to the 25 million visitors who attended the event.”
The road tennis tournament was facilitated through a partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, the National Sports Council, the PRTA, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., British Airways, The Crane Resort, and Invest Barbados.