The Haifa Tennis and Education Center hosted the Nahum Barak Youth Tennis Shavuot Championship. For the first time, the competition was held only in doubles format.
On Thursday 13/06/24, the Shavuot 2024 national competition came to an end, which was held in couples format for all ages. About 210 male and female tennis players aged 10-18 from all over the country participated in the championship. The competition is held every year in memory of the late Nahum Barak who was killed in the Yom Kippur War.
Young players from the many tennis clubs in Israel qualified for the competition from the group stage held a week before. The final competitions, the "knockout", included 11 categories according to ages and levels of difficulty, of which 5 were for girls and 6 for boys.
The national competition was held in two locations: the Haifa Tennis and Education Center which hosted the 14, 16 and 18 year olds, and the Maccabi Netanya club which hosted the 10 and 12 year olds. (The 16-year-old boys final match was played at the Kiryat Tivon tennis club).
The list of first place winners
- Boys 10 level 1: Romi Dor and Liam Eniger won after a 6:2 3:6 5:10 victory over Eitan Rosenman and Ariel Rosenman.
- Boys 10 level 2: Guy Elel and Yonatan Levinstein won after a 6:4 5:7 9:10 victory over Itai Bolshinsky and Ariel Aroch.
- 10 girls level 1: Taisia Mikheev and Alice Teplitsky won after a 6:4 4:6 5:10 victory over Valeria Zavolotny and Michaela Jordana Hershkovitz.
- Girls 10 pairs level 2: In the match Cohen and Vika Randall won after a victory 7:6 3:6 12:14 over Michal Braunstein and Milena Hotuliov.
- Boys 12: Shawn Bartikov and Yuval Leider won after a 2:6 3:6 victory over Yuval Persa and Tom Binaminov.
- 12 girls: Agam Sheeran and Miley Sabidinsky won after a 2:6 3:6 victory over Adele Yedgrove and Michelle Yanovitz.
- Boys 14: Uri Teigman and Tal Shuster won after winning 7:6 2:6 8:10 over Roy Zilberberg and Ariel Elisha.
- 14 girls: Maya Lubinski and Bar Shaforn won after a 4:6 4:6 victory over Liane Greenspan and Michal Kostenko.
- Boys 16: Nitzan Svisa and Ray Shatvi Unger won after a 4:6 1:6 victory over Yonatan Shagas and Ran Berger.
- Girls 16-18: Sapir Reznik and Shahar Ben Aryeh won after a 5:7 3:6 victory over Lior Varach and Rena Nienstot.
- Boys 18: Harel Tarshish and Iti Klein won after a 3:6 0:6 victory over Ido Som and Dor Zohar.
Eran Danek, director of the Haifa Tennis and Education Center:
"Our main goal is to expose as many boys and girls as possible to competitive tennis, to instill in them the values of the game from a young age, and to make them fall in love with the sport of tennis, so that they can continue to train, enjoy, and reach achievements at the national and international level. When I briefed the young competitors during the last week, I mentioned to them that my victory will be for everyone to leave the competition with a smile, both those who will lose and those who will win, because they will experience a good atmosphere, a competition at a professional level, an accurate schedule, good values and energies."
Organization of tennis and education centers in Israel is a non-profit organization that has existed since 1976. Today there are 24 centers and branches containing about 194 lots in Israel, with the newest of them opening in Migdal Hamemek. In recent years, centers have been opened in the Druze Council, a restaurant in the Golan Heights (2023), Hazor HaGalilit (2022), Taiba and Dimona (2021). The vision of the tennis and education centers in Israel - to allow every girl and boy in Israel - regardless of background, religion, physical or financial ability, the opportunity to learn the game of life through the game of tennis.