SLTA president receives ATF appointments
KUCHING: Malaysia Lawn Tennis Association (LTAM) vice president Dato Patrick Liew Chin Joon has been appointed to the sub-committee for tournaments and officiating by the Board of Directors of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) for a two-year term 2024-2025.
Liew, who is also LTAM chairman of tournaments and officiating as well of Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) and system development chairman, is also appointed as ATF committee member for junior development and coaching.
The Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president said he is honoured by the ATF appointments.
“It (the appointments) are also a good indication that my experiences, contributions and involvement in tennis, especially in organising many international tournaments, are being noticeable and acknowledged by ATF.
“My appointment comes in very handy for my planning in terms of organising international tournaments and officiating activities for both Sarawak and Malaysia.
“It gives me more information and opportunities to know and understand the developments of the other Asian countries.
“It also gives me more network to assist our local talented players for wild card exchanges for major events,” he added.
The co-chair of the ATF tournament and officiating committee are Gilbert Ng of Singapore and Wan Jianbin of China while other committee members include Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzbekistan), Im Chahoon (South Korea), Nao Kawatei, Toshiaki Sakai (Japan), Liang Lyu (China), Seyed Adel Borghei (Iran), Shahzad Akhtar Alvi (Pakistan), Thaitanu Wannasuk (Thailand), Fouad Ibrahim (Iraq), Wilson Tay (Singapore) and Christopher Lai (Hongkong).
Meanwhile, SLTA will be organising and hosting four ATF competitions this year.
They are the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Girls) Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying from March 1623, ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Boys) Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying from March 23-30, ITF Asian Development Championships U14 from April 6-18 and 16th ATF Asian U14 Series from Nov 7-11.