ATF begins livestreaming matches of junior events at SLTA
KUCHING: The Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) has achieved a new milestone by becoming the first organiser of Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) events to showcase live streaming of matches and real-time scores.
The live streaming involved matches in the just concluded World Junior Team Competition (WJTC) Girls U14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying and the on-going Boys U14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying that will end this Saturday.
The live stream of matches and live sores can be viewed on YouTube and ATF website, https://www.asiantennis.com.
“This is one of the initiatives taken by ATF to further popularise tennis for the Under 14 and Under 12 in the region and SLTA are honoured and proud to be chosen by ATF to pioneer the implementation of this live score/video streaming in South-east Asia.
“This initiative/idea was mooted by newly elected ATF president Yuriy Polskiy during the ATF annual general meeting in Bangkok, Thailand last December,” SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew told The Borneo Post.
“The social media creates a big impact to the tennis community and the sponsors who would like to come in as sponsors for tournaments.
“The live streaming and live scores are also to eliminate human errors during the officiating, provide accuracy of scoring and better management of the officiating through digitalisation,” he added.
According to Liew, tournaments in Australia do not need linesmen and the organisers are using the “Hawk Eye” for the officiating.
“It (live streaming/scores) is also a significant testimonial to our commitment and contributions for tennis in Asia.
“This set-up is very efficient, effective and up to date where everyone over the world can get instant results without going to our centre,” added Liew.
The live video streaming is only done on Court 6 and Court 8 while the live scores is shown for every match.
According to ATF live streaming official Osipov Slava who is from Uzbekistan, Kuching is the first city and Malaysia the first country to implement live streaming of the score and matches.
“The live streaming in Kuching is for WJTC Girls U14 AsiaOceania Final Qualifying from March 18-23, WJTC Boys U14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying from March 25-30 and ITF Asian 14&Under Development Championships Finals from April 6-20.
“Other tournaments include Asian 14 & Under Tournament Grade A (West Asia) in Saudi Arabia, Asia Oceania Closed B1 ITF Juniors in Thailand, Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup in Kazakhstan, Asian 14&Under Tournament Grade A in India and Malaysia, ITF Asian Juniors Championship in Cambodia, Asian 12&Under Team Competition Finals in Kazakhstan and Asian Closed B1 ITF Juniors in South Korea,” he said.
Adding on, Osipov said ATF is planning to expand the live streaming to more courts in the targeted tournaments next year.