KUCHING: The sharp decline in the number of participants in the girls category of the Asian 14 and Under Series is quite alarming.
Organising chairman of the 10th Asian 14 and Under Series, Dato Patrick Liew said yesterday SLTA had only received eight entries for the girls competition this year.
Out of the eight, only two were foreigners ATF ranked No. 85 and tournament top seed Afraa Haidarah from Yemen and unseeded Brigita Brigita from Indonesia.
“In previous years, we used to receive about 22 or more entries and I am quite surprised why there are so few entries this year,” Liew told reporters in a press conference yesterday.
“Perhaps the drop in the girls tennis players is because the parents feel that after turning 16, the girls have to concentrate on their academic pursuit and they are more concerned about not having black complexion after playing under the hot sun,” he reasoned.
Nevertheless, Liew said SLTA will continue to organise the event as it provides the best platform for juniors aged between 11 and 14 to gain exposure in preparation for the foray into ITF World Junior Circuit championships.
It also meant Malaysian juniors need not go overseas to compete and they will save a lot in terms of air tickets, accommodation, food and transportation.
“The tournament also provides our players the opportunity to earn ATF ranking points as this is not a knock-out competition. The players will earn points from the champion to the 31st placing,” he said.
“As you can see in the acceptance list, we have Chritsian Didier Chin from Sabah who is ranked ATF No. 4, Koay Hao Ci (No. 17), Satveer Singh Seth (No. 51) and Darrshan Suresh (No. 65) in the boys competition and we have Elysia Wan from Kuching who is ranked ATF No. 99 in the girls competition,” said Liew.
Other Malaysians in the girls contest include Nurul Amirah Ahmad Zamzury, Angeline Ong, Nil Farah Fahrol Rodzi, Haarini Balakrishnan and Tan Lin Xin.
There are 18 Malaysian boys in the competition including Mark Leong Wei Yang, Muhammad Aiman Hamdan and Nicklaus Liang Thai Sim from Kuching.
The tournament top seed in the 30-player field is Arthur Craig Pantino from the Philippines.
Participating countries are Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Yemen and host Malaysia.
This event is the eighth and second last international competition that SLTA will be organising this year, with the final event the 24th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) World Junior Circuit Championship (Grade 3) slotted for October 12-19.
It is also one of the tournaments in the Asian region that offers hospitality to the players and coaches who are in the main draw.
“You can’t find this provision of hospitality in other Asian countries and that gives our tournament an added value along with good organisation and facilities, many players will come to Kuching to compete,” said Liew.
He is expecting an arrival of a big number of parents, family members and coaches who will accompany the players to the tournament here.
Sarawak is one of the states in the country that hosts the Asian 14 and Under Series, the others being Sabah, Pulau Pinang and Melaka.