Team BC wins silver in tennis mixed team event
In hot and sunny conditions, BC’s tennis team earned a silver medal Friday at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club.
The six-hour final featured six matches: two men’s singles, two women’s singles one men’s double and one women’s double.
Team Ontario earned the gold medal by winning four matches, with two matches going to BC.
Team BC – silver medal in mixed team tennis
Men:
DIEMER, Aaron (Victoria)
DAVIS, Jack (Port Moody)
SIHOTA, Jovan (North Vancouver)
MITROVIC, Stefan (New Westminster)
Women:
GONG, Jessie (Richmond)
VAGRAMOV, Sasha (Port Moody)
HO, Sophia (Port Moody)
MANSOURI, Yasmin (West Vancouver)
Quotes
GONG, Jessie (Richmond)
On playing in front of crowds in Winnipeg
“I honestly love it. We don’t get to experience this anywhere else in tennis.This kind of resembles college tennis, which is what a lot of us will be going into. It’s extraordinary.”
On hearing the Team BC supporters in the stands
“Oh ya, it fires me up on the outside and the inside. I scream, show my passion and leave it all out on the court to win.”
On playing in the mixed-team event in tennis
“It’s awesome, because we actually feel like a team. With tennis, we are usually individuals. This is nice. We’ve bonded over the week and been there to support each other.”
DAVIS, Jack (Port Moody)
On being at the Canada Games
“It was crazy. The atmosphere was ridiculous.everybody came out and supported us. We came up a little short, but we had a lot of fun and tried our best.”
On Team BC’s performance
“It’s great, it’s awesome. We were just happy to be there. We pulled off a huge upset in the semis to take out Quebec.Even to play that match was an incredible experience. Feeling a little bit sad that we lost, still a great result at the end of the day.”
On the multisport Games experience
“Now we’re gong to play under 18 nationals this next week and it’s going to feel so lame. Back to normal. This has been an incredible change and a great break of the slow clap politeness of what tennis usually is.”
BC players move to bronze medal matches in doubles play
In the tennis doubles event, Team BC faced off in semi-finals in both the men’s and women’s divisions Friday afternoon.
In the men’s division, Aaron Diemer (Victoria) and Jovan Sihota (North Vancouver) lost to Quebec in three sets, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.
In the women’s division Yasmin Mansouri (West Vancouver) and Sasha Vagramov (Port Moody) aced Ontario, losing in two sets, 7-6, 6-3.
Both pairs will participate in the bronze medal matches, beginning Saturday morning at 9:00 CDT at at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club.