KUCHING: Defending champions Kuching made a successful defence of their crown when they dominated the MSS Sarawak Tennis Championship again by winning nine out of 12 categories at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Centre yesterday.
National Boys Under 15 number one player Alvin Teng achieved more success this week when he clinched the U-15 singles title by edging Adrian Lim 8-6 in the all-Kuching final.
The joint third place winners were Farith of Kuching and Charles Runyaam of Miri.
En route to the final, Teng received a first round bye and thumped Satreenraj of Samarahan 8-0 in the second round.
He followed up with a 3-0 victory over Mohd Irfan from Bintulu in the last eight and went on to beat Charles of Miri 8-5 in the semi-finals.
Last week, Teng won the Boys U-15 singles title in the MSSM Kuching Tennis Championships.
He had also captured the Boys U-15 singles and doubles titles at the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) Sportexcel Under 14 Tennis Circuit 1st Leg in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 23.
In the Boys U-18 singles final, state MSSM player Augustine Chang suffered an injury on his right ankle and conceded the title to his teammate Kenneth Tan.
Tan was leading Chang 6-5 when the latter retired.
The injury also affected Chang’s performance in the Boys Under 18 doubles final when he and partner Kenneth Tan went down lost 6-8 to another Kuching pair Ricco Soh-Shane.
The Boys U-12 singles final saw Isaac Noah beating Mohd Aiman 8-0 in an all-Kuching final.
Kuching also won the Boys U-15 doubles title where Adrian-Mark beat their teammates Sean-Farith 8-6.
The Boys U-12 doubles title went to Md Aiman-Mitchell of Kuching who beat teammates Nicklaus-Nurhadzmi 8-6 in the final.
Kuching’s other titles came from national Girls U-18 singles player Choo Lyn Yuen of Kuching who blanked Amanda Sim of Miri 8-0 in the Girls U-18 singles final, Goh Qing who beat Isabella Sim of Sibu 8-0 in the Girls U-12 singles final, and Angeline-Brigita who defeated Miri’s Nur Irdina -Esther 7-3 in the Girls U- 12 doubles final.
Miri finished second overall by winning three titles while Sibu came in third.
Belinda Chai gave Miri their first title when she thumped Linda Leong of Bintulu 8-0 in the Girls U-15 singles final.
Belinda then partnered Virvienica to win the Girls U-15 doubles title by beating Kirstin Leong-Alia Azman of Kuching 8-6.
Miri’s Amanda-Annabella then beat Andrea-Charlene 8-2 in the Girls U-18 doubles final.
The three-day competition organised by MSS Sarawak and hosted by MSSM Kuching saw 84 players including 35 girls from Kuching, Samarahan, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu taking part.
Kuching District Education Officer Mahli Rosli closed the event and gave away the prizes.
The top five players from each category will represent Sarawak in the MSSM Tennis Championships to be hosted by Sarawak this year from Mar 23-27 at the same venue.-www.theborneopost.com
