The annual South Island Indoor Challenge tennis tournament has added some international flavour.
This year's event, which runs today through Sunday at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, will feature South Africa's Izak Van Der Merwe and French international Clement Reix, who comes in as the defending champion. Van Der Merwe is a Davis Cup player for South Africa and is ranked No. 183 in the ATP world rankings. Reix is currently ranked No. 369.
The eight-player field also includes B.C. pros George Jecminek and Patrick Flint, who hails from Victoria. Canadian pros Daniel Chu, Henry Choi and Ash Misquith, and Oren Motevessel of Israel round out the field. The tournament winner takes home $8,000, with the runner-up earning $3,500.
The round-robin portion of the tournament begins today at 5 p.m. with Van Der Merwe taking on Chu and Flint going up against Jecminek. At 7 p.m., Reix plays Motevessel and Choi takes on Misquith.
Friday's matches are at 5 and 7 p.m. On Saturday the round-robin continues at 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. The bronze-medal and gold-medal matches are slated for Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Tickets are $25 for an adult tournament pass (four days) and $10 for a youth tournament pass. Day passes for Thursday and Friday are $10, while day passes for Saturday and Sunday are $15.
For more information, call 250-888-5996 or email southislandchallenge@ gmail.com.
