Datin Rosmah Mansor Tennis Challenge Trophy begins today
KOTA KINABALU: The 1Malaysia Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor Tennis Challenge Trophy Tournament kicks off here today with a record 16 team entries after successful edition in previous years.
This ninth edition of the annual three-day tournament will be played at various venues including at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex, Kinabalu Golf Club and Sabah Golf and Country Club in addition to Sutera Harbour Resort.
After finalising the tournament’s final details at the managers’ meeting last night, the organisers led by chairman Daniel Tan are confident it would be another successful staging.
A record entry of 16 teams will be battling for honours and it could have been more but several teams had to be turned down after failing to register before the closing deadline.
Among the teams in the fray are from Singapore, Sarawak, Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).
Singapore, Sarawak and PDRM are expected to have a close-knit battle among themselves, while local side KK Frenzz are likely to have the crown in their sights.
They are regular favourites and are expected to wield the strong arm to defend their crown.
Due to repair works at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex and the unavailability of the covered tennis courts at Sutera Harbour Resort, organisers are forced to have the fixtures played at four venues this time around following the introduction of hard courts at KGC and SGCC.
Due to this, organisers have asked the participating teams to give their fullest cooperation and understanding to help ease logistics and matters on the courts.
For the record, last year’s champion have changed their team’s name to Wilson Meercats.
It remains to be seen if their new name can live up to their billing last year.