KUCHING: Travelling for the first time out of her native country China, Ting Lu Hui is hoping to gain more than just experience here in Malaysia as she competes at the Eighth edition of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Asian U-14 Series.
BIG IMPACT: China’s Ting Lu Hui (second left) with coach Akhter Hossain (second right), Ma Yexin (right) and Huang Ling Xiang (left).
Ting, who is from Beijing, is one of the 26 participants in the Girl’s U-14 who will be competing amongst each other to improve their ITF rankings.
She is however unranked, but is hoping that her experience from competing at various tournaments in her country will help her to excel and make a big impact in the competition.
“I am so excited to be here in Malaysia. It is a whole new experience for me,” said Ting to thesundaypost yesterday.
During her training session at the SLTA tennis centre yesterday Ting revealed that the conditions here in Malaysia are almost similar to her native China. Ting revealed that she was happy to be here and hoped that she would not disappoint those who put faith in her.
According to Ting, she started playing tennis at the age of nine. She added that tennis is her passion and she wants to emulate her idol and compatriot Li Na.
For the record, professional tennis player Li Na is currently in the top-10 and had won six WTA and 19 ITF singles titles.
She too won the 2011 French Open singles title, becoming the first player from China to win a Grand Slam in the singles.
Also present at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) grounds yesterday was her coach Akhter Hossain. He revealed that the reason as to why the China squad’s early arrival here is to acclimatise to the court and weather conditions here.
“The weather here is fine. It is very similar to the weather and climate in Beijing,” he said.
Besides Ting, Ma Yexin and Huang Ling Xiang are the other players in the team.
The Chinese trio came from the highly rated Sixth Sense-Potter’s Wheel Tennis Academy based in Beijing.
Akhter added that since this is the first time he and his players travel abroad to compete, he wants his players to focus and gain useful experience here, and to make a big impact in the in the tournament.
“If the players do well, then it will definitely be a great reward for their hard work and training,” enthused Akhter.
The 2012 ITF Asian U-14 Series starts next week from Sept 5-9.
All tennis enthusiasts are invited to come and watch the matches at the SLTA tennis centre near Kuching Civic Centre.