São Paulo – Morocco, an Arab country in North Africa, should have representatives at the 29th Gerdau Tennis Cup, the most important youth competition in the sport in Latin America, to take place in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, from March 17th to 25th. Youssef Tamimount, 16 years old, should compete among representatives of 48 countries.
Apart from Morocco and Brazil, players from nations like Germany, Argentina, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, United States, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Turkey, Uruguay, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Thailand, Suriname and Venezuela should participate. The games are scheduled to take place at Associação Leopoldina Juvenil and at Sogipa.
The competition includes players in the under-18, under-16, under-14, under-12 and under-10 groups. Matches in the under-18 group generate points for the world ranking and the favourite is the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro. He is in second place in the junior world ranking. The Moroccan Tamimount, despite being 16, competes in the under 18 category. He is number 23 in Morocco and 1,580 worldwide.
In the female under-18 category, the favourite is the Paraguayan Montserrat Gonzalez, who is number eight in the world ranking. Also playing are other prominent Brazilian players, like Laura Pigossi, in 43rd place worldwide, and Beatriz Haddad Maia, in 44th.
The Gerdau Tennis Cup is organized by ProTenis Promoções Esportivas, a company specialized in sports events, and the main sponsor is smelter Gerdau, but the event also has other sponsors. Also involved in the competition are the International Tennis Federation, the South American Tennis Federation, the Brazilian Tennis Federation, the Rio Grande do Sul Tennis Federation and Correios, the Brazilian postal service, an official sponsor.
*Translated by Mark Ament
