Sandakan juniors reign supreme in tennis meet
KOTA KINABALU: Host Sandakan reigned supreme by capturing nine titles in the first leg of the Sabah Junior Tennis Tournament over the weekend.
The outstanding feat saw Sandakan win half of the categories contested with Bradley Oscar Johannes and Sandra Allysa Silvester grabbing two titles each at the Sandakan tennis club courts.
Bradley won the boy’s under12 singles beating Mohd Ammar Imran Mohd Rasyid of Keningau in the final. Third place was won by Mohd Faziezan Azief Rohjan also from Sandakan.
Bradley added a second win when he teamed up with Mohd Faziezan to take the doubles title after beating Kota Kinabalu’s Timaben Abeng and Mohd Raziqie Mohd Nor.
Sandra also contributed two titles for Sandakan for her victories in the girl’s under-10 singles and doubles event, the latter she partnered Tawau’s Hailey Chong Ee Wen.
Sandakan’s other title-winning players were Shawn Alfie Silvester (boy’s under-16 singles), Scharllotte Avryll Silvester (girl’s under-14 doubles), Harith Jay Sunil (boy’s under-14 doubles), Farith Athmar Jamludin (boy’s under-16 doubles) and Muhd Ryan Rafeeq Rommeh (boy’s under-10 doubles).
For the record, Scharllotte partnered Nur Allyda Qalesya Mohd Ali of Lahad Datu; Harith with Nathan Guansing of Penampang; Farith with Mohd Eizlan Mikhail of Lahad Datu; and Muhd Ryan with Christian Lee of Kota Kinabalu playing in the doubles.
Tang Szu Ching who was representing Sandakan Member of Parliament and the first leg main sponsor, Vivian Wong, presented the prizes to the winners.
President of the Sandakan District Tennis Association (SDTA) Silvester Lawai was extremely pleased with the Sandakan players’ achievement. He also showed appreciation to the parents and coaches who sent their children to participate in this tournament.
“The success of the tournament is due to commitment and assistance from all tournament officials who have worked with full dedication for three days.
“Support from the Sabah State Tennis Association president Johnson Koh and his honorary secretary Tito Latoja made this tournament run very smoothly,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The newly appointed SDTA president also thanked the Sandakan ILP director Ts. Azmi Rahman Mat Zuini and Sandakan ILP tennis club president Ts. Suhaidi Mustar for giving permission to use two of its tennis courts, where the boy’s and girl’s under-12 competitions were held.
Koh, on the other hand, paid tribute to all the parents for their sacrifices in ensuring that their kids progress and improve their tennis skills.
“Hopefully with such drive and sacrifices, their kids will one day improve to represent Sabah and who knows become national champions,” he said in the same statement.
Koh went on to express his hope that the level of tennis in junior tournament will further improve, which in turn would motivate the parents or the kids to get involved more in tennis.
Towards this end, he extended his gratitude to Wong for her contribution to Sandakan tennis in getting the necessary boost for development purposes.