A busy but fruitful year for Sabah Tennis Association

Sabah Tennis Association (STA) had a busy and fruitful year, according to its President Johnson Koh in a statement released on Wednesday.

He said the juniors especially are working well towards progress and improvement after almost a year under STA appointed coach Tito Latoja.

In November Christian Didier Chin and Stefan Alex managed to enter the quarterfinals of the Penang International Open Juniors tournament and Chin went on to the finals in the doubles in Penang , Perlis and Langkawi as well but eventually lost to the top seeds.

The BIMP-EAGA tennis tournament also saw them coming back with five bronzes and one silver and he believed given more time and with more support from the Sabah Sports Council these juniors will be groomed into better players.

He said the State body started the year with the staging of the inter-affiliate tournament, which was hosted and won by KKLTA.

A coaches dialogue session was also held in Tawau, which proved to be very fruitful and beneficial for tennis in the State.

The 5th Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor Team Tennis Invitational tournament, which was held in July continued to be a success and Lakeview team from Kuala Lumpur successfully defended their title for the third year in a row.

STA also made a courtesy call to the Head Of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin in April to seek consent to organise the inaugural TYT Birthday Cup, which was simultaneously held in October to commemorate the TYT's birthday.

And the doubles event with commercial sector versus Government sector was successfully held with very much enthusiasm and participation from both sides.

He also disclosed that STA was also formally registered under the Sabah Sports Commissioner Act with the name of " Persatuan Tenis Negeri Sabah".

This year the State body also mourned the loss of its two prominent past staunch supporters due to old age, the late David E Morris, the former President of SDTA and Dr. Joe Yap, former SLTA President.

Meanwhile, Koh also expressed his thanks to the Youth and Sports Ministry, Sabah Sports Council, Sabah Forestry Director Datuk Sam Mannan and other sponsors for their part in supporting the association.- www.dailyexpress.com.my