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17th March, 2010
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Tennis Association (STA) has finally been able to assemble a compatible Boy’s team to mount its challenge at the 13th Sukma in Melaka in June after the successful staging of the STA/KK Chin Academy Junior Tennis tournament which ended on Monday.
STA President Johnson Koh and Sukma coach Zulkifli Awang had a hard time picking up the best players during the tournament held at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex courts.
All the players involved gave a good account of themselves but Koh and Zulkifli were eventually able to finalise the team.
The Madelin brothers Gideon and Gibson were the stars of the tournament and the singles champion and runner-up in the Boy’s section respectively.
In a one sided final, Gideon proved his mettle by defeating his younger brother Gibson in straight set 6-2, 6-2.
Koh has already identified three of their boys for Sukma who are now currently undergoing national back-up training at the Bukit Jalil Sports School in Kuala Lumpur and one at the Johor Bandar Penawar Sports Institute.
The two Bukit Jalil trainees are Mohd Faeez Said and Roger Andrew Lim, while Nor Saiful Sudud, who was one of the participants in the Junior tournament is studying and training at the Bandar Penawar Sports Institute.
The trio has been training under their respective coaches in Kuala Lumpur and Johor, and coach Zulfifli and himself will coordinate with their coaches from time to time as part of their Sukma preparations.
All are eligible for Melaka.
Gideon and Gibson along with reserve player Ng San Yang will train under Zulkifli here before the trio returns for centralized training before the Sukma kicks off.
“In order to monitor their training and if necessary I will make frequent visits to Kuala Lumpur and Johor to get first-hand feedbacks from their coaches and also their latest development,” he said.
Meanwhile, after two days of grueling competition under scorching heat, the junior boys and girls braved the heat and played their hearts out. Their attitude didn’t go unnoticed by STA who are on an aggressive mission to promote junior development programmes.
In the Girl’s Under 23 division, there were two upsets, where the Chong sisters, Janice and Joanne lost their grips to Kimberly Ye and Chong Karleen, who is a student in the UMS pursuing her studies in medicine.
Karleen earlier defeated Joanne and then Kimberly in the semis and finals respectively to emerge as the champion.
The prize presentation was graced by Youth and Sports Deputy Permanent Secretary Penyuki Matta, who represented Assistant Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim.
Parents were also a plus to these players in the two-day event and this includes a family from New Zealand whose son Alexander Anderson became the champion in the Boy’s Intermediately Section.
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