MADRID, 25 (EUROPA PRESS)
A total of 150 beach tennis players of 15 different nationalities will compete from this Sunday in the ‘ITF Beachtennis Gran Canaria Final 2020’, an event that includes the highest category tournament of the specialty that has been held in the world since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus pandemic.
The men’s main draw of the BT100 of Gran Canaria is headed by the number 2 in the world, the Italian Michele Cappelletti, and the Canarian Antomi Ramos, current world number 4. Russian player Nikita Burmakin, current world number 3, also confirmed his participation in the tournament.
All three have been number 1 and all three have been affected by the stoppage of the competition. Ramos this year has added to his international record the BT50 tournament on the Caribbean island of San Bartolomé, held in February.
For his part, Burmakin won his only title this year also before the pandemic. The Russian player won the BT400 Santos tournament (Brazil) in February, partnering with Alesandro Calbucci (current number 1). Three of the players who played in the Brazilian final play in Gran Canaria: Burmakin, Ramos and Gerad Rodríguez.
In addition, in the female category, local Omayra Farias and Catalan Eva Fernández (3rd and 1st in the national ranking) lead the table; as well as the Portuguese Manuela Cunha and Catarina Alexandrino (numbers 1 and 2 in their country), and the Spanish couple formed by Ganesha Díaz and Sabrina López.
The event will be held without public and with restricted access to the sports venue. The semifinals and finals on December 30 and 31 will be broadcast via streaming through the Approba YouTube page. The ITF Beach Tennis World Tour includes more than 300 tournaments that take place in 37 countries on different continents.
Since March 15, a total of 97 beach tennis world circuit events have been postponed or canceled due to the pandemic, according to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) website, underlining the uniqueness of the Gran Canaria event, to be held under strict sanitary security measures.
The overall balance for the month of December is three canceled events and only three confirmed World Tour competitions (United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Colombia), in addition to the two tournaments that will take place in Gran Canaria.
