Christian Chin to take part in International Tennis Federation tourney
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s junior tennis ace Christian Chin will compete in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) legs in the Philippines later this month.
It was made possible after Sabah Tennis Association (STA) president Johnson Koh sought the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) help to send the highly talented Chin.
Chin’s participation in the tournament was put in doubt when the LTAM previous Exco had without consulting the player cancelled their submission for the tournament, although the National Sports Council (MSN) had already allocated the budget.
“LTAM honorary secretary (Mohamad Rahizam Abdul Rahim), will pursue the matter with MSN, while Christian’s father Christopher Chin will advance the money first with the help of STA.
“Christian’s father will be reimbursed later ,” said Koh in statement yesterday.
Christian is one of Malaysia’s most promising junior players having reached the top of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) under-14 ranking, making him the first Malaysian to be ranked top in Asia in any tennis category.
Koh said this after Christian was formally introduced to the new LTAM president, Mirzan Tun Mahathir, and the new EXCO after its first meeting last weekend at the National Tennis Center players lounge.
Meanwhile, Koh, who is one of the three vice presidents of LTAM, revealed after the meeting that several issues were discussed including accounts and bank procedures to be dealt with.
“Issues on tennis were targeted with emphasis on junior tournaments which will be aggressively pursued.
“This requires cooperation from all state associations. The state associations will be closely communicated to ensure more tournaments are organised and more coaches are enrolled under the MSN promotion programme,” he said.
Koh, whose suggestion for LTAM to work more closely with state associations had been taken up before Mirzan was voted in as president, revealed that the latter already had five meetings with state associations.
“These meetings are good for close cooperation and good relationship to promote tennis willingly among all states,” added Koh.
Koh also said that five subcommittees were set up to monitor more closely the tournaments, finance, media reporting relationship, coaching and development of players, coaches and officials.