Hong, Kawaguchi get a chance to shine at Wimbledon
Hong Yeri of South Korea and Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan booked their tickets to Wimbledon after topping the two weeks of girls and boys singles competitions of the ITF Asia U14 & Under Development Championship that ended at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre yesterday.
In the all-South Korea girls singles final, tournament’s top seed Hong was made to sweat for the 6-3, 7-6(7) win over eighth seed Sim Siyeon.
The duo were doubles first runners-up on Wednesday after they lost 3-6, 6-3 (7-10) to China’s Zhang Sijia and Dong Jiali.
Hong was also the biggest winner of this tournament after she won the first week’s girls singles title and the girls doubles runners-up title with Sim.
Their contribution led to South Korea clinching the team champions crown while China were second.
Takahiro, who won the first week boys singles title, was upstaged by 14th seed Hruthik Katakam of India 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the final.
However, he and Shintaro Ogaki claimed the boys doubles crown after they beat HruthikTavish Pahwa of India 6-4, 2-6 (10-2) on Thursday.
Joining Hong and Takahiro on the road to Wimbledon are Kim Dongjae of South Korea and Zhang Sijia of China.
The two tournaments in Wimbledon are the Wimbledon 14 & Under Championship and the Grand Slam Players Development Programme/ITF/ ATF 14 & Under Team To Euro Championship.
Chinese Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Kuching Xing Weiping and SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew Chin Joon gave away the prizes.
Also present were tournament director Douglas Telajan who is SLTA vice president, ITF referee Puneet Gupta and his assistant Ramee Rawi, and organising committee members.