DO US PROUD: Aziz (fifth right) handing over the state colours to the team at SBA Hall yesterday. At right is SBA secretary Abdul Hadi. — Photo by Davidson Kho
KUCHING: Sarawak players are hoping to repeat their 10-title feat last year in the 100Plus National Junior Circuit Sabah-Sarawak Zone badminton tournament in Tuaran, Sabah from Apr 10-12.
The state will be sending 61 players to the annual tournament which then offer spots in the Grand Finals in Kuala Lumpur from June 12-16.
Out of the number, 31 are sponsored by the Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) while the rest will be competing at their own expenses.
“We are expecting our players to do pretty well although they are not playing on homeground. We do hope that they will perform as well as in last year’s meet when we achieved the best result ever – winning 10 out of 16 categories contested,” said SBA president Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Abdul Aziz Abdul Hussein in a press conference yesterday.
According to him, Sarawak players are seeded top in seven categories when compared to nine top seeds last year.
Categories to be competed at Dewan Sri Sulaiman are Boys/Girls U-12 singles and doubles, Boys/Girls U-14 singles and doubles, Boys/Girls U-16 singles and doubles, and Boys/Girls U-18 singles and doubles.
Champions and runner-ups for Boys/Girls U-14, 16 and 18 will qualify for the Grand Finals while the champion, runner-up and semi-finalists of the Boys/Girls U-12 will book their tickets to Kuala Lumpur.
The top seeds are Nik Azizi (Boys U-12 singles), Barry Chong-Nik Azizi (Boys U-12 doubles), Nalthan Lissem (Boys U-14 singles), Owen Ting-Stanley Chiong (Boys U-14 doubles), Alfred Lau-Adam Lau (Boys U-18 doubles), Valerie Liong (Girls U-14 singles) and Kourtney Kho-Viviene Kua (Girls U-16 doubles).
“This will be a good exposure for our junior players and it will be good if they can make it to the Grand Finals in Kuala Lumpur where they will gain valuable exposure at national level,” he said.
Aziz said the present crop of junior players are being groomed for Sukma 2016 when Sarawak will play host. He said SBA are putting in more effort to groom more players as BAM has allocated more funds to the state badminton body for development.
“We will be getting more coaches to train the players and after state coach Dwi Ariyanto and his assistant Rukeita have been appointed as BAM coaches, we have written to Sarawak State Sports Council (MSN) to maintain the appointment of the MSN coach for our development programme,” explained Aziz.
To get more exposure for our players, Aziz said SBA will continue to organise big tournaments like the Malaysian International Challenge (MIC).
“We are hoping to organise the MIC this year at the Sarawak Indoor Stadium and the tournament will be renamed the Sarawak International Challenge,” Aziz revealed.
Later, in a simple ceremony at SBA Hall, Aziz handed over the state flag to the team led by team manager Soh Theng Sai.
Accompanying the team are assistant coach Bernard Phoa and official Simon Nawang.