PLAYERS URGED TO AIM HIGHER
LTAM president Mirzan wants them to make top 500 in the ATP and WTA rankings
AJITPAL SINGH ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my
LAWN Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) president Mirzan Mahathir wants players to think far and not to be contented by just becoming a national champion.
“Being a national champion is respectable, but we are only a developing nation in the sport. Players should aim higher. I want to see our players breaking into the top 500 in the ATP and WTA rankings one day,” said Mirzan.
“Ou players need to have the self-belief that they can attain better results in international tournaments.
“We have lost many top juniors in the past as they take up tennis scholarships in the United States, and give up the sport after earning degrees.
“This must change. We need to find a way to entice them to play tennis when they return.
“We have many junior players with potential, and they will be groomed accordingly to become Sea Games gold medallists in the 2021 edition.”
Yesterday, Mirzan, who has helmed LTAM since 2015, successfully defended his post by garnering 43 votes, compared to Afzan Zakaria’s 10 and Akbar Baba’s four in the association’s annual general meeting-cum-election at National Tennis Centre in Jalan Duta.
The voting process for the president’s post had to be conducted two times. The 57 delegates protested when the ballot box was taken to LTAM’s office during the 30-minute lunch break, and the voting process had to be conducted again.
Datuk Taufik Omar (46 votes), Johnson Koh (35) and Datuk Sallahuddin Ahmad Kamal (32) garnered the most number of votes for the three vice-president posts.
Nurizam Khalid (50), Datuk Patrick Liew (45), Shahrul Hafidz Abdul Rahim (42), Shaharudin Sharif (42), Fazwil Abdul Wahid (38), Zainuddin Osman (38) and Datuk Mansor Ismail (35) amassed the most votes for the seven executive committee seats.
Kamaruzzaman Kedah retained his honorary treasurer post unopposed, while former national coach Rahizam Rahim was reappointed as the secretary.
Mirzan promised to be transparent and committed towards the development of the sport. “As I had promised two years ago, we are bringing back the ITF’s Futures to Malaysia. We will organise three Futures tournaments next month. I hope our national players will take the opportunity to earn ranking points,” he said.
Kuching will host the US$15,000 (RM64,000) Malaysia Futures I on Oct 16-22, followed by Futures II at DBKL Complex on Oct 23-29 and Futures III at NTC on Oct 30-Nov 5.
“I want to do more for tennis, but funding is an issue. However, we are doing our best to manage things with increases in tournaments in the local and junior circuits.
“We will keep the current batch of coaches. However, we need to start collecting data of each player to analyse their strengths and weaknesses,” Mirzan added.