67 attend soft tennis clinic
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysia Soft Tennis Association (MSTA) in collaboration with the Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Raja Melewar (IPGKRM) organised a soft tennis clinic in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan over the weekend.
Secretary General for South East Asia Soft Tennis Federation (SEASTF), KK Chin, conducted the clinic for the 67 teachers and staff of IPGKRM.
Chin, who is also Sabah soft tennis head coach, also organised a soft tennis tournament for the participants.
Meanwhile, MSTA president Datuk Haji Shamshuzaman Sulaiman said soft tennis was still new in Malaysia but there are many international events that await the players such as the SEA Games, Asian Games, World Soft Tennis Championship and The World Junior age groups Championship this year.
He also said that MSTA is planning to organise the soft tennis coaching course and umpires’ course in May this year as part of the efforts to promote and develop the sport.
“Our aim is to have at least six states with soft tennis association. Sabah Soft Tennis
Association (SSTA) is the first in the country to be registered six years ago.
Director of IPGKRM, Mohamad
Zaidi Ishak, expressed his gratitude to the national soft tennis body for introducing the sport and thanked Shamshuzaman for contributing 45 soft tennis rackets and balls to the campus.
“I hope the teachers will help promote soft tennis to schools that they will be posted to after graduation.
“As can be seen during the tournament, they enjoyed the game and volunteered to be umpire and vice umpire while some teachers even requested to assist in officiating any soft tennis competition in future,” he said in a statement.
In another development, Chin said the 17th World Soft Tennis Championship will be held in Anseong, Korea from Sept 1 to 11.
The world junior age-group for under-12, under-15, under18 and under-21 will be held in November.
The International Soft Tennis Federation (ISTF) will announce the exact date and venue soon.
“MSTA, on the other hand, will organise the men’s and women’s singles championships together with the junior age groups in April in Kelana Jaya.
“The MSTA-organised tournament will be a platform to select players to represent Malaysia in the two world championships,” said KK Chin.