 Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 |  Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 |  Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 |  Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 |  Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 | Photographer: Jonathan Bullet
Date: 30 Jan 2009 |
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| 29 Jan 2009 | |
| ITF 14 & Under Asian Championships 2009, Group 2, Malaysia |
Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA), an affiliate of Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia, was ecstatic at being given the opportunity to organize the ITF 14 & Under Junior Championships (Group 2) from 10 - 21 January 2009. The SLTA is no stranger to organizing ITF events as they hosted the Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas in 2007, as well as organizing two ITF JWR events annually and will also be the host nation of the World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania qualifying boys and girls championships in May 2009.
This year’s event attracted 59 participants from 16 nations which is the largest number of entries since the inception of this competition format by the ITF. The biggest problem throughout this championship, however, was the incessant rain which resulted in the organizers having to come up with flexible scheduling and a variety of tournament formats in order to complete the championship. Since the organizers were behind schedule they were left with no choice but to cancel the doubles event of the second tournament.
The championship consisted of two four-day tournaments. The feed-in consolation format was used for this championship, resulting in players from participating nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, ITF Group 4 Team (made up of players from West Asian nations of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and UAE) and host Malaysia playing matches every day. Points are awarded for each tournament and then added together at the end of the event, to provide the final ranking. The best performing players will be invited to form the ITF Team (Group 2) to take part in the Group 1 ITF 14 & Under Asian Championships in March in Jakarta.
In the boy’s event of tournament 1, Amer Naow (SYR) of the ITF team did his nation proud reaching the final with the loss of only one game, and then by defeating the talented Hoang Thien Nguyen from Vietnam, who had recently won an ITF JWR (Group 5) event, 62 64. Nguyen received some consolation when he partnered Sharmal Dissanayake (SRI) to defeat Amer and his partner Jacob Makhzoumeh (SYR) in the boys doubles finals 63 64.
Lyn Yuen Choo of Malaysia dominated the girl’s singles, easily defeating Nancy Karaki (LIB) 64 60. It was an all Malaysian affair in the doubles finals when Choo and her partner Archnaah Rajan got the best of Alyssa Boey and Yin Ying Chang winning 63 63.
All four of the first tournament’s finalists 1 reached the singles finals the second week. This time, however, it was a reversal of the results as both Nguyen and Karaki were able to exact revenge on Naow and Choo respectively in the finals. Unfortunately, because of the rain, the doubles event could not be played.
The championships received a great deal of media coverage and attracted local sponsors. Surya Bhushan, coach of the Nepalese team, commented: ”This is the first time I have attended the ITF 14 & Under Asian Championships and I am very impressed with the high level of organization and hospitality provided by the host nation. The SLTA must be commended for their tremendous effort in hosting such a successful competition”.
During the prize giving of the first tournament, SLTA President, Mr. Patrick Liew, commented: “The SLTA would like to continue to host more such ITF competitions. Such competition motivates and encourages not only Malaysian juniors but juniors from the region to develop their skills to a higher level.”
ITF Development Officer for Asia, Suresh Menon, remarked: ”A large number of the players in this competition are from the ITF assisted Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme. It is exciting to see players from many of these nations participating here and having their talents optimized through this competition which is a part of the ITF’s “pyramid of opportunity”.
Results for the championships are as follows:
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