Dato Patrick Liew
KUCHING: The Sarawak 11th ATF Asian U14 Series tennis championship to be staged at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre from Sept 2-6 is evidence that more Malaysian junior players are taking advantage of home ground.
They are aiming for ATF ranking points to propel themselves into ITF junior competitions.
Organising chairman Dato Patrick Liew, who is Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia vice president, said this augured well for Malaysian tennis as more youngsters are more serious in making tennis as their future career.
“Previously we had only one such competition in the country but for the past four years, we have organised four legs of the ATF Asian U14 Series in Melaka, Pulau Pinang, Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
The Melaka and Pulau Pinang legs are normally held in the first half of the year while the Sabah and Sarawak legs, which are held back-to-back, are in the second half of the year.
“We are organising four legs because that will give opportunities to our juniors to earn ATF rankings points which will prepare them for ITF junior competitions. If they are to play in the ITF straightaway, they will face a lot of competition,” added Liew.
The SLTA president said senior players like Mohd Assri Merzuki and Ariez Elyaas Deen Hesham had graduated from the U14 Asian Series and were among the top eight ranked players in the region.
This year’s competition has attracted 60 players including 21 girls from 10 countries namely Finland, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Malaysia has the largest number of participants with 21 boys and nine girls, followed by Hong Kong with nine boys and five girls while Indonesia are fielding five boys and three girls.
The top four ranked players in the boys main draw are Malaysians Noor Suhail Sallahudin (ATF No. 32), Takeshi Koey Jian Keong (#38), Suresh Darrshan (#53) and Danial Ahmad Farid (#65).
Nil Farah Fahrol Rodzi of Malaysia is the top ranked player in the girls competition at ATF No. 17, followed by Skylar Wan of Hong Kong (#34) and Angeline Ong also of Malaysia at ATF No. 49.