SUKMA 2016: Sukma aces sail through Jr Open round one

The Sarawak Sukma XVIII players with head coach Deen Hesham Abdullah Tan (third right) and coach Rick Jayson Alforque (right).

KUCHING (TingTiengHee): Sarawak Sukma XVIII players enjoyed smooth passage in the first round of the SLTA-LSC Junior Open Leg 2 tennis tournament at SLTA tennis centre yesterday.

Tournament top seed Low Zhe Han breezed into the second round of the Men’s Open singles with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Miri’s Mohd Ishan Han and second seed Alvin Teng Wie had a walkover win over Sabah Sukma player Chieng Shoa Wei.

Rohaizat Achop Borhan Janang and Muhd Aiman Hamdan also advanced to the second round after defeating Cliff Bryan of Samarahan 6-0, 6-1 and Bintulu’s Chieng Shao Gan 6-1, 6-2 respectively.

In the Women’s Open singles, Belinda Chai kicked off her campaign by blanking Judith Magdalena of Bintulu while Tan Lin Xin tamed Saratok’s Jancy Ceria Odau 6-4, 62. Belinda will next face Sukma teammate Alia Azman in the last four after the latter beat Tan Jia En from Miri 6-3, 6-0 while today’s other semi-final shall see Soo Hui Jen of Miri battling Tan for a spot in the final after she got past Celina Cleveland of Tatau 7-5, 6-3.

In the Boys’ U14 singles, Jimmy Liong of Bintulu booked his semi-final ticket after he beat Cornelius Sia 8-0. Joining Jimmy in the last four are Mitchel Brapui of Kuching, Muhd Sufri Kasuadi of Kota Samarahan and Dauglas Austin of Saratok after they all beat their rivals 8-0.

Tan Lin Xin of Kuching and Soo Hui Jan of Miri will face Jancy Ceria Odau and Celinia Cleveland respectively in today’s Girls’ U14 singles semi-finals.

The other two categories in this competition are the U12 Mixed (Boys and Girls) and U10 Mixed (Boys and Girls). Jointly organised by SLTA and LSC, the competition serves as a warm-up for the Sukma players apart from unearthing new talents. -TheBorneoPost