Sarawak CM Cup a legacy for tennis, tourism, business
KUCHING: The Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ( I) ITF Junior Circuit tennis championship has come a long way since it was first organised by the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA).
Ithasgonethroughthesuccession of three chief ministers Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud ( 20012013), Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem (2014-16) and now Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg (2017).
“All the chief ministers are very supportive of this event and each time they always make it a point to officially hand over the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup to show their support.
“We real ly appreciate the government’s support and they value this as a important event for sports tourism of which we bring in 30 over countries each time and this is good for the economy and generates business for the people in Kuching,” organising chairman Dato Patrick Liew said after receiving the top trophy from Abang Johari at Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Petra Jaya yesterday.
According to him, SLTA received a grant of RM80,000 from the state government every year to organise the event.
Liew, also SLTA president, said the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ( I) ITF Junior Circuit tennis championship has also put Kuching on the world tennis map. Now into its 29th edition this year, the ITF Grade 1 competition has attracted the participation of 37 players who are in the top Junior ITF 100 rankings.
“This is a prestigious junior ITF tennis championship organised only by Kuching, Malaysia and Bangkok (Thailand) where many players especially from foreign countries come to play to improve their rankings,” added Liew.
“Many of those who have played in this tournament have gone on to play in the Junior Grand Slam and the Grand Slam events,” he said.
They a re among the 2 2 0 players including 113 girls from 39 countries who have signed up for the competition at the SLTA Tennis Centre along Jalan Crookshank.
The top ranked player in the boys main draw is Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France who is ITF No. 22 while the top ranked girl is Ayumi Miyamoto from Japan who is ITF No. 21.
The participating countries are Australia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thai land, Ukraine, United States and Vietnam.
Qualifying matches will start from March 12-13 while the main draw will be played from March 14-19.