IC Spain Champions of the Abdesselam Trophy

Madrid, July 2023

During the 5th and 9th of July, our veteran teams +50 and +60 were crowned champions of the Robert Abdesselam Trophy Tournament held at the facilities of the Club de Tenis Chamartín in Madrid, under excellent hospitality and organization.

The competition, organized this time by IC Spain, pays tribute to the figure of Robert Abdesselam, junior champion of France, vice president of the French Tennis Federation and the International Federation, as well as a member of the Davis Cup team. Additionally, he was a founder of NATO, served as a volunteer during World War II, and created the Robert Abdesselam Foundation to support French tennis and promote competition for retired players from the professional circuit.

The competition format is a "round-robin" in doubles mode: 1 women's doubles, 1 men's doubles, and 2 mixed doubles (50/55 and 55/60). Each match won earns one point, so the winning team is the one with the most points after the three days of competition.

For this edition, the IC Spain team was formed by Rosa Bielsa, Carmen Chillida, Carmen Mendaro, Ángel Arbelo, Juan Avendaño, Javier Linares (Captain-player), and Javier Molina, who competed against the International IC teams of Belgium, France, and the invited IC team for this occasion, Norway. Spain emerged victorious in a hard-fought final against France.

The awards ceremony was attended by Nicolás Ramos (President of Club de Tenis Chamartín), Javier Linares (Sports Vice President of CTCH, Captain, and IC Spain executive), and Chema Iñigo (Sports Director of the club and competition supervisor).

It was a heartfelt tournament where, once again, we enjoyed good tennis among friends and had the additional privilege, through the Higher Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes), of witnessing the presentation of the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit to Spanish tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza.

46th Potter Cup Preview

The 46th edition of the Potter Cup, the International Club’s premier team event for senior players, will take place on the clay courts of two of Barcelona’s  clubs, Real Club de Polo and Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 from May 31st to June 3rd.

A total of 15 national IC teams will be in action; eight men’s and seven ladies’. Due to be played at the Potter Cups’ traditional home of the RC Polo, the men’s tournament once again sees a strong line-up, with teams from IC Belgium, IC France, IC Denmark, IC Germany, IC Great Britain and IC USA due to take part alongside defending champions IC Italy, and the host team IC Spain, runners-up in 2017.

IC Spain has named an 8-man team, led by former professional Jordi Burillo and captained by Santiago Tintoré as they attempt to recapture the title for the first time since 2013. The IC Italy, defending champion has signed up with the following team:  Meneschincheri, Charpetier, Caldarelli, Spizzica, Scala, Altobelli, Scaiola, Pertosa, Filipepeschi, and Cavallieri, all of them with a former ATP ranking. 

The ladies’ competition looks to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event and will see seven teams in action at the RCT Barcelona-1899, before moving to the RC Polo for the finals.

Defending champions IC Spain will be fancied to retain the title, with last year’s team members Eva Bes and Paula Cabezas amongst those named to the squad. They will face tough competition from the team they beat to win in 2017, IC Italy, whose squad features former pros Alice Canepa and Gloria Pizzichini, best ranking WITA 45, amongst others. The remaining teams due to take part are IC Belgium, IC France, IC Germany, IC Great Britain and IC Ireland.  

The tournament will also stage its now traditional tennis clinic for players with intellectual disabilities from the ACELL Foundation, during which players from the various teams take part in the popular on-court session.

In addition to the two hosting clubs, the Potter Cup is supported by the Catalan Tennis Federation, the IC Council, the Barcelona Town City Hall, the Consell Català de l’Esport and the Spanish Tennis Federation.    

Photo: The President of the Council of International Clubs, Mr. Peter McQuibban, Mrs. Maite Fandos from the Diputación de Barcelona, Mr. Albert Agusti, Presidente del Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, Mr. Curro Espinós, Presidetne del Real Club de Polo, Mr. Jordi Tamayo, President of the Catalan Tennis Federation, Oriol Merce, representing the Secretaria General de l'Esport de la Generalitat, Mr. Juan Mª Tintore, President of the International Club of Spain and Jordi Arrese representing the Potter Cup players.