Dato Patrick Liew
KUCHING: The Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) is setting a target of winning one gold, one silver and one bronze medals in Sukma 2020 that will be hosted by Johor next July.
Its president Dato Patrick Liew said this was a realistic target as Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have more good players and are looking to dominate the tennis competition.
Liew said they have listed eight boys and nine girls to be registered for Sukma 2020 as the Sukma potential players list have to be submitted to the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) before Dec 29.
The boys are Mohd Aiman Hamdan, Tan Lin En, Hii Shieng Wee, Jimmy Liong, Alvin Teng, Sufri Kasuadi, Bryan Chong and Douglas Austin Roland while the girls include Tan Lin Xin, Lydia Liong, Tan Xin Hung, Linda Liong, Lim Zhang Ning and Jancy Ceria Odau.
“The decentralised training will commence in January for local based players and we are planning to send three players to the US for exposure stint,” said Liew.
“Centralised training will start end of February and end in March where we will select the final team of six boys and six girls,” he added.
Liew said by June, all the players – including those studying/playing tennis in the US and Australia – will be in Kuching for the centralised training.
The team will also leave for Johor two days before the competition to get acclimatised to the weather and venue conditions.
“Stevie Din will manage the team while Gilbert Yeo is the coach and Chang Syn the chaperon.
“There are only five gold medals – boys and girls singles and doubles and mixed doubles – on offer in Johor,” said Liew.
Fourteen teams will be participating with Selangor and Kuala Lumpur as the favourites.
Sarawak have a good record in Sukma, having won the overall champions title in 2010 (Melaka), 2012 (Pahang), 2014 (Perlis) and second in 2016 (Sarawak).
Sarawak were also runner-up in Sukma Perak 2018 where tennis was organised as a demonstration event.