Junior Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Pre-Qualifying tournament champions Pakistan posing with Liew (fi fth right), and (from fi fth left) Sheetal, Amir, tournament secretary Bernard Chin, treasurer Kho Siak Koi, SLTA manager James Bong and director Douglas Telajan. — Photo by Teo Chi Wei
KUCHING: It has been a very busy and taxing two weeks for the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) as it hosted four team competitions back-to back at its tennis centre at Jalan Crookshank.
The events were the Asia- Oceania Pre-Qualifying tournaments for World Junior Team Competition (Boys), World Junior Team Competition (Girls), Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup.
SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew said the success in running the events had given the association much satisfaction and pleasure.
“All this would not have been possible without the strong support and cooperation from all parties concerned – the sponsors, the State government, the offi cials, media and others,” Liew told thesundaypost yesterday.
“ The comments by ITF representative Amir Borghei from Iran and ITF referee Sheetal Iyer from India, give us our greatest satisfaction and to be honest, running the events back-to-back is never easy,” he said.
“It has been very taxing to look after 32 teams from different cultures and backgrounds especially in terms of food, we need to fi nd food which are suitable for West Asian teams like Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
” Liew said SLTA was pleased that almost all players and captains gave their thumbs-up for the hospitality and organisation, saying that this was one of the best tournaments they have been to.
“With the completion of the changing rooms, players can have their showers after the matches and with the opening of the Merdeka Shopping Complex, it has given much convenience to the participants as they can hunt for food that they like or buy necessary things such as mineral water and others,” added Liew.
“I would like to thank my team of committee members for their dedication and hard work to enable the tournaments
to be run smoothly and also the motivated local and Indonesian officials.”
“We are also blessed with good weather throughout the competitions,” he said.
Liew’s only disappointment was that not too many local players, their parents and tennis enthusiasts turned up at the centre to watch the competitions.
The pre-qualifying tournaments for WJTC Boys/Girls and Junior Fed Cup were organised from Feb 17-23 while the Junior Davis Cup was run from Feb 24-28.
Liew said SLTA are now looking forward to hosting the 23rd Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (1) ITF Junior Circuit (Grade 1) from Mar 11-16.
“This event is of higher level and higher expectations with more than players from more than 30 countries around the world coming to participate,” he said.
After the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup, SLTA will host its first ITF Men’s Futures US$15,000 from mar 31 to Apr 6.