Augustine falters despite impressing

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KUCHING: Up and coming Augustine Chang impressed in the first round but was badly beaten in the second as he bowed out of the ITF 14 and Under Asian Championships (Group 2) tennis tournament here yesterday.The younger brother of Sarawak Sukma XII player Oscar Chang, Augustine did well in the first round played in the morning by beating Zaid Daher of Jordan 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

He displayed determination and strong will especially in the third set when he was trailing 0-3 to down the higher-rated Daher, who was representing Team ITF.

However, fatigue could be blamed for Augustine’s dismal performance in the second round, played in the afternoon, when he faced top seed Sharmal Dissanayake of Sri Lanka.

Dissanayake, who received a bye in the first round, easily defeated Augustine 6-0, 6-1.

Augustine’s father Charles Chang, when met after the morning match, said he was proud of his son for the good display against Daher.

He, however, was not so happy when he learnt that his son was drawn to play the top seed in the following match.

“(No matter the result) my son did well by beating a tough opponent in the first round, and I am proud of him,” he said of Augustine, who was the runner-up in the boys U-14 singles and doubles at the 45th Port Dickson Open last November.

Another local boy, Kenneth Tan, did not survive the first round after he lost easily 0-6,0-6 to Hussein Hasan of Yemen, also of Team ITF.

Colin Wong of Selangor, on the other hand, made it to the quarter-final stage which will be played today.

He defeated Lee Kai Yi of Singapore 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in the second round.

Meanwhile, in the girls singles, Kuching girl Choo Lyn Yuen kept alive her hopes of repeating last year’s success after she easily swa off Thisouri Molligoda of Sri Lanka 6-0, 6-2.

Lyn Yuen proceeds to the quarter-finals, also to be played today. She won the singles in the first leg of this tournament last year, but was the losing finalist in the second leg.

The tournament is played across two legs on a back-to-back basis.

A total of 59 players – 35 boys and 24 girls – from 11 countries are taking part.