Tennis players seek to set record for tsunami relief fund
Two tennis players are hoping to raise more than €1,000 today for the Asian tsunami appeal by breaking the world record for the longest competitive singles match.
Ciaran Gilchrist, from Raheny, and Karl Falsey, from Co Meath, are aiming to play continuously for at least 25 hours and 26 minutes to raise money for the Red Cross appeal.
It is hoped that the match, which begins at Westwood Club in Clontarf at 10am, will raise several thousand euro.
Organiser Brad Williams, of Westwood Club said: “There’s a lot of hype around the club, and we have a lot of members who are very generous.”
He said that Tennis Ireland and sponsors Danone had donated €700 to the appeal, while a member at the club has already put in €200.
There will also be collections at the club, which is expecting a good crowd for the world record attempt.
The two men, who are prominent Dublin players, are aiming to convincingly beat the current record of 25 hours and 25 minutes held by Germans Christian Barsschel and Hauke Daene.
Mr Gilchrist and Mr Farsey, who are allowed to take a break of five minutes every hour, hope to keep going for at least 32 hours.
Mr Williams said he thought that the players had a good chance of breaking the record.
“They put it to me some time ago that they wanted to attempt the record at the club.
“We also wanted to raise money for the tsunami, and I came up with the idea of putting the two together,” Mr Williams said.
If the two men are successful, they will join the likes of Bjorn Borg (who won the most French singles titles) and Pete Sampras (who won the most Wimbledon men’s singles titles) in the Guinness Book of Records.
