KUCHING: Rain may have disrupted the ITF 14 and Under Asian Championships (Grade Two) yet again but the organiser yesterday assured there would be a champion on the final day.
Tournament chief official Suresh Menon said if the weather did not improve, the winners would be determined by points accumulated in the first leg and their placings in the second.
Suresh, ITF development officer for Asia, added: “Regardless of the situation, the tournament will end as scheduled by Jan 19. If the weather, somehow, permits the matches to go on before that, we will adopt a shorter format system.”
Suresh stressed it was not possible for the organiser to predict the weather accurately when drawing up the programme for the year.
He said the tournament had to be organised early each year to allow the organiser to pick players for the Group One competition.
“This tournament will be held in March in Shenzhen, China. We need to identify and prepare a pool of four boys and four girls to mount a serious challenge,” Suresh added.
Yesterday was the third straight day that rain had disrupted a full-day schedule after the first leg began on Jan 9 at SLTA Centre, Jalan Crookshank here.
Two girls semi-finals were washed out – an all-Malaysian clash between top seed Choo Lyn Yuen and Arcnaah Rajan and a Malaysia-Singapore encounter between Alyssa Boey and Joy Chia.
In the boys category, Colin Wong was to have played Jordanian Seif Adas while another potential finalist — either top seed Sharmal Dissanayake or Anandone Khampouny — awaits.
Asked to comment on the current weather situation, organising chairman Patrick Liew said it would not entail a financial problem because the tournament would definitely end by Jan 19.
“The only loss is time and effort of our manpower.”
Liew, also Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) chief, pointed out that despite the weather factor, the date could not be changed since it was set by International Tennis Federation (ITF) and SLTA had to bid for the host job every year.
However, come rain or shine, the winners will be decided today.