Double honours for Alvin Teng

0

EXCELLENT START: Alvin Teng bagged two titles at the LTAM) Sportexcel Under 14 Tennis Circuit 1st Leg in Kuala Lumpur that ended yesterday.

KUCHING: State junior player Alvin Teng got off to a very good start in 2013 when he bagged double honours at the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) Sportexcel Under 14 Tennis Circuit 1st Leg in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The 13-year-old got a first round bye in the boys singles competition and was impressive when he disposed of Darrshan Suresh of Selangor 6-0, 6-0 in the third round and Adam Hafizi of Kuala Lumpur also by the same margin in the fourth round.

Teng went on to upstage top seed Adam Syafiq of PS team to book his place in the last eight where he emerged 6-2, 6-2 winner over Satveer Singh from Selangor.

He continued his winning streak by beating second seed Ryan Lee of Kuala Lumpur 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Facing tournament fifth seed Azrul Ehsan in the final, Teng triumphed 6-3, 6-3 to lift the title.

Teng completed a double when he partnered Stefan Gligorov of Selangor to beat Wan Muhammad Fakhrul and Ryan Lee in three sets in the boys doubles final.

Teng and Gligorov lost the first set 6-7 but recovered strongly to clinch the next two sets 6-4, 11-9.

En route to the final, the 10th seeded pair received a first round bye, beat the Kuala Lumpur pair of Muhammad Syabil-Lui Hui 6-1, 6-0 in the second round, then Darrshan Suresh-Arnandtemmorty 6-1, 6-3 in the third round.

They advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Mark Leong-Isaac Noah Law 6-4, 6-2 in the last eight and were 6-3, 6-2 winners over Adam Syafiq-Azrul Ehsan in the last four.

Another Sarawak boy Jonathan Sia failed to make it to the final stages as he was knocked out in the second round.

Kirstin Leong’s campaign in the girls singles ended in the third round when she lost 1-6, 1-6 to Tara Afzalirad of Selangor.

Leong enjoyed a first round bye and registered her only win over Zerin Prisha of Kuala Lumpur in the second round, beating the latter 6-0, 6-0.

Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president Dato Patrick Liew was proud of Teng’s achievement, saying that he was being groomed to be the next Assri Merzuki.

“In terms of skill, he is already there and we hope he can commit more time to training as his parents may put pressure on him to do well in his studies. Hopefully, he can balance his time between tennis and studies,” he said.

Liew is also encouraging Teng’s parents to enrol him in two ITF Group 4 events in Melaka and Brunei this year.

“We hope that he can get his first ITF ranking points and SLTA will try to secure a wildcard for him to play in the main draw,” Liew added.

Teng, who was last year’s MSSM boys singles champion, also won the Boys Open title at the BMW Malaysian National Circuit 2012 Masters in Kuala Lumpur last month.