Biggest international tennis tournament yet
by Ting Tieng Hee, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 9, 2012, Thursday
RECORD PARTICIPATION: Liew shows the fact sheet for the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying for ITF World Junior Tennis Competition, Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup to reporters during the press conference.
KUCHING: Sarawak will see a record number of players participating at the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying for ITF World Junior Tennis Competition, Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Complex, here from Feb 20-25.
The three events will see 140 players and coaches from 34 teams taking part in the first
event organised by SLTA for this year.
“Each team shall have three players and a captain who is allowed to be on the court during the match to coach the players,” said organising chairman Datuk Patrick Liew yesterday.
Liew, also the president of SLTA, said the International Tennis Federation (ITF) will give the state tennis parent body US$47,600 (RM150,000) to run the event.
With the funding of US$1,400 per team from ITF, SLTA will arrange for the accommodation, food and transport for the players and captains for the duration of the competitions.
“We are expecting these events to generate a spin-off of RM300,000 in revenue for the state,” disclosed Liew who added that this was the second time that Kuching was hosting the event.
He does not foresee any logistical problem in terms of flights for the teams to Kuching as they can alternatively fly in via Singapore if they cannot do so from Kuala Lumpur.
“No team can afford to make a last-minute withdrawal from this event because the penalty for doing so is high. Moreover, this is a team event and they must all be well prepared to participate,” added Liew.
The players will arrive in Kuching on Feb 18 and the
captains meeting, draw and practice rounds will be held on the following day.
“The contest for the Girls World Junior Competition and Junior Fed Cup will be played from Feb 20-24 while the Boys World Junior Competition and Junior Davis Cup will be held from Feb 20-25.
“Each match will consist of two singles and one doubles while the tournament referee is Nitin Kannamwar from India and ITF representative is Suresh Menon from Malaysia,” informed Liew.
The participating countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, New Zealand, Iran and Malaysia.
