LTAM in a bind
THE Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) fear the hike in court and hostel rates at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) in Kuala Lumpur since early this year will affect funding for their players.
Although the National Sports Council (NSC) cover the court and hostel rentals for national players, LTAM may see their allocation for tournaments reduced in the long run.
“The hostel rental increased from RM50 to RM200 (before GST) per-night since January while court rentals have been marked up by 100 per cent.
“It does not affect LTAM’s coffers in terms of court and hostel rentals for our national programmes as they are covered by NSC. But it could affect the allocation to send players for tournaments next year.
“The hike in hostel rentals has dumbfounded many as RM200 a night can get a person a decent mid-range hotel in KL,” said Rahizam.
In previous years, LTAM used to receive RM3 million for their National Tennis Academy but the sum was reduced to only RM250,000 this year, forcing the association to cut down on junior players.
LTAM also received RM350,000 for players under the ‘Kita Juara’ Sea Games programme.
“The academy had 40 players in 2015 but the number was reduced to 16 following the budget cut. We have been promised the same amount for both programmes next year.
“It is sad that the funding for the academy has been slashed a lot. The academy serves as a training ground for our best young players in the country,” he said.
The National Circuit was also without a title sponsor this year following BMW’s withdrawal. However, Genting Group has agreed to sponsor next year’s tour.
“With Genting on board, we will increase the number of stops from five to seven. But we may not host the tournaments at NTC due to the hike in court rentals.
“Our budget was tight this year following the cancellation of the ATP Malaysian Open. We used to get RM300,000 in sanction fees from the organiser.
“This year’s WTA Malaysian Open also had financial issues and we received only RM30,000 in sanction fees,” said Rahizam. By Ajitpal Singh