LTAM STAND FIRM

National body defend selection

THE Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) stood firm on their decision not to call up Kelantan's Muhammad Farid Wajdy for the Junior Davis Cup (Under-16) trials, which ended on Tuesday.

LTAM secretary Rahizam Rahim said the national body select players on several criteria, not their ranking points alone.

Kelantan Tennis Association president Afzan Zakaria has expressed his disappointment at LTAM for not giving Farid a chance to take part in the trials, despite being ranked fourth in the country but instead calling up a player outside the top-10.

The players selected will represent Malaysia at the Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania pre-qualifying round in Sri Lanka on March 12-17.

"The Junior Davis Cup is a very competitive event and we have to make sure the best players represent the country. We therefore need to set a certain standard among the players we select," said Rahizam.

"Yes he (Farid) is ranked fourth but we also have to take into consideration a players current performance and results as well as his or hers ITF ranking.

"Farid lost at the quarterfinal stage in both the first and second leg of the national junior circuit this year. He lost to an under-14 player (Mitsuki Leong) who was playing in an age group higher in the first leg and also did not do very well in the doubles."

He added that LTAM have room for only three players in the squad and thus felt it was unnecessary to call up more than four players for the trials.

"The four players we called up for the trials had either won or reached the final in the first and second leg of the national junior circuit this year.”

“If we called him (Farid) up for trials we would have to call up another three or four players (to make it fair). This would incur unnecessary costs when we only need three to play in the competition."

After the conclusion of the trials, LTAM decided on Chaiyaward Phettani, Chan Soon Keat and Muhd Nur Iman for the Junior Davis Cup squad.