BY HARUN JAU
KUCHING: 128 players from 16 countries are expected to take part in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Davis Cup (JDC) & the Junior Fed Cup (JFC) Asia Oceania (Final Qualifying) to be held at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) here from 9 to 21 April this year.
In the Junior Davis Cup (JDC), the participating countries comprise Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Pacific Oceania, while the countries participating in the Junior Fed Cup (JFC) are Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia and Malaysia.
“We are expecting 128 players and 32 captains for the whole duration. Including the parents, coaches, medical teams and so on, we are expecting about 160 to 180 people for the events,” disclosed President of SLTA, Dato Patrick Liew, during a press conference at Jalan Crookshank here yesterday.
He added that the last time these events were held here were four years ago and it was held in Australia, India, Thailand and now back to Kuching again.
“It is very interesting to see the high discipline and team spirits of the players as they carry their national flags along, so whatever their performance and achievement actually reflect their countries.
“Therefore, the scenario will be quite different and the ambience will also be quite different from the Chief Minister’s Cup and other tournaments as individuals. It is a battle between countries,” he said.
Liew revealed that the players for the Davis Cup would arrive on 7 April and the tournament would start on 9 April and end on 14 April while the Junior Fed Cup would be played from 15 to 21 April.
He added that the top four in these qualifying round would play at the world event to be held in September. Liew disclosed that for these two events, ITF representative would come from New Zealand while the referee from India.
“ITF has requested the host country to pay particular attention to the safety of the participants.
“They want us to take security measures which includes security officers and we have also installed eight closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) to cover all angles such as the office, lobby, entrance and even the tennis court. In case anything happens, we can trace back using the cctvs.
“We will also issue accreditation cards to all officials including the media,” he said.
Liew revealed that the organising committee had been given a grant totalling RM210,000 by the ITF to organise the tournament.
He added that the Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah would be officiating the opening ceremony of the tournament on April 9 and 16.
There would be a fellowship and welcoming dinner for participants of both events at Merdeka Palace Hotel which would also be attended by the minister.
