TENNIS was just a once weekly exercise for Tabung Haji Board senior general manager of corporate finance, Mohd Hisham Harun, until he discovered he wasn't a bad competitor recently.
The CEO & Celebrity Charity Tennis event at the National Tennis Complex in Jalan Duta saw Hisham, 44, emerge overall winner of the fourth edition.
"I normally just play tennis to keep fit, at least once a week. But then I got invited to play in this tournament through a friend and I thought since it was for a good cause, to raise money for charity, I'd give it a try," said Hisham.
"I actually had some appointments today (yesterday), so I tried to pull out of the tournament at the last minute, but the organisers said I could not do that as the draw had already been made.
"So maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I'm quite surprised myself.
"Anyway, it was all in good fun and for a good cause, so I enjoyed it. Definitely I'd like to come back next year."
Hisham scored a total of 23 points from five wins and one draw under the special format that saw the 26 participants drawn with five different partners, and each played five sets of six games. The points are the number of games won.
The fourth edition of the event saw organisers New Straits Times and eCEOs Sdn Berhad raise a total of RM64,000 for the NSTP Charity Fund.
Funds raised will go towards aid for young Malaysians in need of treatment for heart problems, cancer, or for the fitting of artificial limbs.
NSTP chief executive officer Mohd Azlan Abdullah said the return of the event, after a one-year lapse, brought with it an encouraging response from participants and donors.
"We had initially targeted to raise RM60,000 through this event and eventually we raised RM64,000, which is the second highest after the RM67,000 we raised in the first year of the event in 2008," said Mohd Azlan.
"We've also got very positive feedback from the participants who wanted this event to continue, so we are definitely looking at having it again next year."
RESULTS: 1 Mohd Hisham Harun 23 pts, 2 Johnson Koh 22, 3 Keld Kristiansen 22, 4 Devan Pillay 21, 5 Paul Poh 20, 6 Richard Curtis 20, 7 Abdul Halim Md Lassim 18, 8 Eugene Yong 18, 9 Mohd Azlan Abdullah 16, 10 Angela Lian 15, 11 Soo Kui Jien 15, 12 Muhd Iqbal Sulaiman 14, 13 Zainal Abidin Mohd Ali 14, 14 Abu Bakar Atan 13, 15 Jojo Struys 13, 16 Yusli Mohamed Yusoff 13, 17 Paul Jones 11, 18 Hasni Mohamad 10, 19 Seelan Paul 10, 20 Jailani Mustafa 9, 21 Mohd Ridza Mohd Abdulla 8, 22 Mohd Ariff Mohd Noor 8, 23 Adriana Aris 6.
