KUCHING: Being an International Tennis Federation (ITF) white badge official has given Razmee Rawi the opportunity to not only to travel but meet up with future tennis stars and experienced tennis officials.
After officiating in the 24th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 3) at SLTA Tennis Centre last week, Razmee is now in Osaka, Japan to officiate in the Osaka ITF Junior Grade A tournament as a chair umpire.
“I enjoy my job as a white badge official and I get to travel to many places around Asia to officiate in ITF tournaments,” said Razmee who has also officiated in the 22nd Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade I) last year.
He also made history by becoming Sarawak’s and Asia’s youngest white badge official at 18 years old.
“The weather was kind to us, the players and coaches were cooperative, everything went on quite well and we managed to complete the match schedules every day even though there was rain on a few occasions.
“The officiating was made easier with the usage of walkie-talkie where we can communicate with each other while we had enough officials,” said Razmee who was the tournament referee for the two Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF Junior Tennis Championships.
He took over from Alexis Wan after the latter migrated to the US in August this year.
Alexis Wan is the only white badge officials that Sarawak has produced apart from Razmee and Francis Wong.
Razmee started playing tennis when he was only six years old and was 13 when he played his first ITF junior tournament. He stopped competing at 17 years old.
His highest ranking in the ITF Junior was No. 630 in 2008.
“I am hoping to upgrade myself and go to Level 3 Officiating School to secure a bronze badge for chair umpiring. I would also like to thank Dato Patrick Liew for giving me this opportunity to become a white badge official,” said Razmee.
The officiating duties as chair umpire/linesman has taken him to the Youth Olympics Games in Nanjing, China, Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea and the Hong Kong WTA event this year.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Dato Patrick Liew said the hosting of several international tennis competitions provided the opportunity for the association to produce the best white badge officials in the country in Alexis, Francis and Razmee.
“The tournaments also give them opportunity to gain valuable officiating experience. We are now grooming Gregory Tan and hopefully we will make an arrangement for him next year to sit for the white badge examination.
“This is also part of our preparation to have enough officials for the Sukma 2016 when we host the national games,” said Liew.
In order to have a successful and smooth running of local, national or international tournaments, Liew said high quality officiating was one of the vital factors.
“We hope that more young people will grab this opportunity to become tennis officials. Apart from earning a handsome income, the officials also get to travel a lot, with their expenses borne by the organisers.
“They also get the opportunity to meet up with top coaches, officials and future world class players,” he added.