I love fireworks
and sharp new year resolutions.

posted on youtube by markusa51

sharapova girl next door in singapore

oh by the way, Anna Chakvetadze (who?), WTA ranked 6th, was also in Singapore. Both Russians played an exhibition match at the city’s Indoor Stadium. Sharapova won 6-0, 7-6 (12-10).

Sharapova says Singapore will be great Youth Olympic Games host
SINGAPORE : Tennis sensation Maria Sharapova feels Singapore would make a good host for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
This is despite the fact that the Russian would prefer Moscow to win the bid.
Channelnewsasia.com 29 Dec 2007 : click here for full story

is sharapova swinging for singapore?

(note to 18 year old son : happy now?)

RESULTS : (Finals only)

Men’s singles: Si Yew Meng bt V.Selvam w/o.

Men’s Doubles: Si Yew Meng-Adam Jaya bt B.Kanagaraj-Razlan Rawi 7-6(7-0), 6-3.

Women’s Singles: Jawairiah Noordin bt T.Neesha 6-0, 6-2.

Women’s Doubles: Jawairiah Noordin-Choo Lyn See bt Sia Huey Ting-Toi Sieu Minn 6-0, 6-0.

Boy’s Singles: Marcus Chee bt Low Ken Ji 6-2, 6-1.

Boy’s Doubles: Low Ken Ji-Marcus Chee bt Wei Jiunn Ng-Wee Gen Ng 6-1, 6-4.

Girl’s singles: S. Theiviya bt Siti Nursyahirah Hassan 6-0, 7-6 (7-5).

Girls Doubles: Siti Nursyahirah Hassan-Siti Nursyafiqah Hassan bt Kimberly Leong-Stefanie Chen 6-1, 6-4.

READ THE NEWS!

What a low-key final
Yet it failed to deliver an exciting finale, leaving tennis enthusiasts to look to a more challenging year. Sadly, the same names reappear within the circle of winners, giving the national players little opportunity to display their potential.
The Malay Mail 31 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Yew Meng dethrones Selvam
V. SELVAM will finally have to stop crowing that he is the National No 1 — at least for a while. Though it was Yew Meng’s turn to rule the roost, he was in no mood to be ahead of the pecking order in this manner.
The New Straits Times 31 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Yew Meng hopes to be third time lucky



IT will be a clash between experience and fitness when National No 1 V. Selvam plays the much younger Si Yew Meng in the men’s singles final of the Ayam A1 National Hardcourt Championships at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.
The New Straits Times 29 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Kanagaraj ends Los Santos’ giant-killing run
NATIONAL player B. Kanagaraj prevented another giant-killing act from Juan Los Santos at the National Hardcourt Championships Men’s Open when he handed the youngster a straight sets defeat at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The New Straits Times 28 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Los Santos in third round
UNSEEDED Juan Los Santos proved that age is no barrier when he reached the National Hardcourt Championships Men’s Open third round at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The New Straits Times 27 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Selvam: I’m still the best
VETERAN V. Selvam is still riding high in local tennis and he intends to keep his status as the national No 1 intact in the Ayam A1 National Hardcourt Championships which start at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.
The New Straits Times 26 Dec 2007 • click here for full story

Six confirm participation in Ayam A1 tennis championships
SIX internationals have confirmed their participation in the Ayam A1 National Hardcourt Tennis championships to be played at the National Tennis Centre in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, from Dec 27 to 30. The six are Adam Jaya, Si Yew Meng, Jawariah Nordin, V. Chellapriya, Dorothy Chong and Sia Huew Teng. All six represented Malaysia in the recent SEA Games in Korat. Chellapriya, Chong, Sia and Jawariah were members of the Malaysian women’s team that won a bronze medal.
thestar.com.my 20 Dec 2007 . click here for full story


Jawariah: The top-ranked women’s player in Malaysia

The 24th South East Asian Games, better known in the region as the SEA Games was held in Korat, Thailand from 6th to 15th December 2007.

SI Yew Ming, Malaysia’s best chance for a bronze medal in the men’s tennis singles, lost to Elbert Sie of Indonesia at King’s 80th Anniversary Tennis Centre, Korat.

Yew Ming resisted Sie for two hours before the Indonesian claimed a 7-6 (4),7-5 win in the quarter-finals.

In the women’s doubles first round, V. Chellapriya-Jawairiah Nordin lost 6-0, 6-0 to Indonesia’s Wynne Prakusya-Angelique Widja in the women’s doubles.

However, Razlan Rawi-B. Kanagaraj defeated Lsavad-Siahvasouy from Laos 6-2,6-3 in the men’s doubles first round.

In the mixed doubles quarter-finals, Philippines’ Cecil Mamit-Dy defeated Adam Jaya-Jawairiah 6-3, 7-5.

(NST online 2007/12/12)

MALAYSIA’S challenge in tennis came to a tame end when the players suffered a thrashing in the men’s and women’s doubles quarter-finals at the King’s 80th Anniversary tennis centre in Korat.

In the men’s doubles, B. Kanagaraj-Razlan Rawi were beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Cecil Mamit-Frederick Taino of the Philippines.

Women ’s doubles Dorothy Chong-Sia Huey Teng were hammered 6-2,6-0 by Sandy Gumulya-Romana Tedjakusuma of Indonesia.

(NST online 2007/12/14)

RESULTS

Men’s Singles Gold Medal : Cecil Mamit of Philippines

Women’s Singles Gold Medal : Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia

Men’s Doubles Gold Medal : Sanchai Ratiwatana-Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand

Women’s Doubles Gold Medal : Tamarine Tanasugarn -Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand

Mixed Doubles Gold Medal : Sanchai Ratiwatana- Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand

click here for full Results Tennis SEA Games 2007

check out also Tennis Served Fresh for Udomchoke in Dunlop at the SEA Games in Korat Thailand.

check the star online malaysia Gold drought set to continue in tennis (Nov 13, 2007)


SEA Games 2007 Men’s Singles Gold Medalist Cecil Mamiit of Philippines
(photo Michael John)

The top 8 Asian players were invited to decide the inaugural Asian Masters at the LG Asia Cup in Bangkok, Thailand from 28 Nov to 2 Dec 2007.

1. Danai UDOMCHOKE (THA) (110*)

2. Kyu-Tae IM (KOR) (224*)

3. Denis ISTOMIN (UZB) (226*)

4. Gouich MOTOMURA (JPN) (291*)

5. Mohammed GHAREEB (KUW) (437*)

6. Ashutosh SINGH (IND) (541*)

7. Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) (674*)

8. Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA) (767*)

* ATP Ranking

An Under-16 Mixed Junior Championship was also held at the same time. Teams from Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia, Uzbekistan & Thailand took part.

And the Asian Masters title goes to :

Danai Udomchoke of Thailand won the USD100,000 Asian Masters title at LG Asia Cup in Bangkok, Thailand. (photo ATF)

The Duta Junior Tennis Academy has been around for ages! The Academy has a good group of coaches, headed by former Malaysian player V. Selvam, and they really make tennis fun and exciting. No membership is required and rates are affordable. The Academy is open to all and is conveniently located within the National Tennis Centre (Gelanggang Tenis MSN) in Jalan Duta.

Raising a racquet at the Duta Junior Tennis Academy!

Group Lessons are offered everyday from Monday to Friday from 5pm to 7pm and on Sat mornings from 8am to 10am. Just for December, extra sessions on Wed & Fri MORNINGS 9.30am to 11am.
First come for the free trial that is offered. Then decide how many times a week you want to send your child. My 8 year old daughter Zuli ‘M’ started in July 07 with two lessons a week.
The great thing is you can replace days you miss and it is easy to do so as lessons are on Mondays through to Saturdays. Attendance is taken at the lessons.

Hit the ball early!

Forehand! Backhand!

Lessons are conducted on 3 courts by 3 or 4 coaches.
The 2 hours whiz by as the kids do warm-ups, tennis drills & fun games. The kids also pick up very fast when they learn in a group. This holidays Zuli ‘M’ has progressed to one private lesson & one group lesson a week.

The next stage is the Elite Programme for advanced players.

Lessons for adults are also offered. I am currently taking a group lesson for doubles with Coach Rama.

For more info, click here to visit their website www.tennismalaysia.com or call 603-62015496 or email djta@tm.net.my

Coach Rama went supermarket shopping!

Coach Trini “Hit the ball over the net y’all!”

Coaching the soon-to-move-on-to-Elite group!

The Elite Group had a special session with BabolaT on Saturday.
For the newbies, BabolaT is a racquet maker established in France in 1875. The company has been on the up and up since Rafael Nadal became their poster boy!

The Elite Group of the Duta Junior Tennis Academy

Follow through! screams Coach Rama

The Banana Boat makes tennis fun!

Protect your ‘boat’ Elite Group!

Yay! We win!

The losing team being arranged as ‘targets’

Kula was a fave target!

(L.) Parents invited to serve & hit Babolat prizes
(R.) Cool prize - I hit the RM89 Babolat Xcel Premium strings!

Main man Coach Selvam has a real pix with Nadal but this is a Babolat poster

posted on YouTube by veyoncee. Junior Tournament in Barcelona.

on YouTube this video has been viewed 39,000 times! vamos rafa!

this video is to inspire all the young ones on the tennis courts of kuala lumpur!
(plus he’s soOo cute!)

The rain has started again! According to the rather accurate accuweather.com, The Weather Channel and Weather Underground (you can link directly to all 3 sites by clicking on the names highlighted or from my sidebar under ‘Weather Kuala Lumpur‘), Kuala Lumpur is going to be rainy for the next 2 weeks! All 3 weather sites will give you HOURLY forecast for the day PLUS a 5-day to 15-day forecast. Its great for scheduling tennis lessons and that birthday or bbq! Go on, try it.

Quick download ENTRY FORM & FAQ (pdf) by clicking here or link below :

Entry Form AYAM A1 HARDCOURT TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007.pdf

P R I Z E S (in Ringgit Malaysia)

Men’s Singles
Champion: RM1500.00
Runner up: RM1000.00
Semifinalists: RM500.00
Quarterfinalists: RM200.00

Men’s Doubles
Champion: RM1500.00
Runner up: RM1000.00
Semifinalists: RM500.00
Quarterfinalists: RM200.00

Ladies’ Singles
Champion: RM500.00
Runner up: RM300.00
Semifinalists: RM100.00

Ladies’ Doubles
Champion: RM500.00
Runner up: RM300.00
Semifinalists: RM100.00

Master’s Singles
Champion: RM400.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Master’s Doubles
Champion: RM400.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Veteran’s Singles
Champion: RM400.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Veteran’s Doubles
Champion: RM400.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Boy’s Singles
Champion: RM300.00
Runner up: RM200.00
Semifinalists: RM100.00

Boy’s Doubles
Champion: RM300.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Girl’s Singles
Champion: RM300.00
Runner up: RM200.00

Girl’s Doubles
Champion: RM200.00
Runner up: RM100.00

ENTRY FEE
RM40 per entry for Juniors and the rest RM 60

A great way to end a good year for tennis in malaysia!
See you at the tournament.

wed 5th dec - fri 7th dec
national tennis centre, jalan duta,
kuala lumpur, malaysia

The Inter Nation Ladies Doubles Tournament has been organised for the last 15 years according to current organiser, Poh Manickam, whom I met at the Malaysian Veterans Tournament. That would make it the longest running Ladies Tennis Tournament in Malaysia! Kudos Ladies!

It started life with the Tennis Association of International Women some 15 years ago under the helm of Datin Liz Malik, Rosie Dewal & Marianne Yeo,
and later Angela Burchardt.

Poh Manickam

8 teams are taking part in this year’s tournament. Each team comprises of 6 players i.e 3 doubles. The teams are Malaysia 1 & 2, MANZA/ABWM 1 & 2, Japan 1, 2 & 3 and Rest of the World. Think Davis Cup!

If the standard of the Ladies Doubles at the recent Malaysian Veterans Tournament is anything to go by, the next 3 days will see some great tennis! Come on over.

Wed Dec 5th : day 1

Got to National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta at 1pm and all was quiet. Checked the Notice Board, saw the scores and realised the matches were over.

Thurs Dec 6th : day 2

Hisako & Keiko (Japan 1) vs Jennifer Yeoh & Lai Wai Kuen (Malaysia 1). Team Japan 1 won.

Chris Wong & Jody (Malaysia 1) vs Lisbeth Helms & Judy Hooppell (Rest of the World). Great match!

Atalanta & Lindsay (MANZA) vs Kyoko & Chiharu (Japan 3). Taken after the match, sweat & all!

Japan 2 vs Manza 1. A pix taken in 2 seconds. No names. Japan 2 won the match.

Tomoyo & Hisako (Japan 3) won their match against Manza 2. Could be that the match lasted longer than expected cos Manza 2 had to rush off to do a school run!

Khatijah & Dolly (Malaysia 1) vs Celia & Liza (Rest of the World). A thriller till the end! Malaysia 1 won the match & the fashion point for the Zang Toi tops!

Team Malaysia players with tournament organisers Poh Manickam (2nd from R) & Jenny Chan (3rd from R).

Jenny Chan and her husband have been busy with Poh Manickam organising this year’s InterNation Ladies Doubles Tournament. The team based tennis tournament has a different atmosphere because the supporters get a bit more involved and vocal supporting their teams! Good fun!

For 2008, the tournament will be brought forward to the middle of the year. According to Jenny, the Tournament is open but you must have a country team of 7 players of 35 years and above. Please contact 012 2917620 or 012 2029609 for info.

Note : Watch this space for Tournament results!

an interesting and must-read post from a highly-rated & very cool tennis blog, Tennis Served Fresh… quickly click the link below…

http://cornedbeefhash.wordpress.com

day 1 :

Indoor tennis courts Jalan Duta - we were the first to use them after major
upgrading works for the Malaysian Open ATP Challenger series.
It sure looks good!

Ivy Goh (left) vs Sharon Sim (right)
Sharon came all the way from JB for the tournament!

Liz Tajuddin (left) vs Mimi Tan (right)
Significant moment for blogger Liz - my first tennis tournament!

Deanna Yusuff (left) vs Irene (right)
A famous face gets sweaty!

Official Hisham checking 3 courts at once!

Multi Tasker Organiser - Tennis Coach to oh so many -
cool guy - brother to Zang.
Toi See Juan



Syafuddin Abdullah (left) vs M C Wong (right)
The tough men played on the outdoor courts

Anthony Yap and Hj Idris from the 60-64 age group raring to go for their matches!

Official Irene - registration & T-Shirts for the 4-day tournament

Updating the email list

Chillin’ out outside the aircon Players Lounge

Note to Organisers : drop the ‘Veteran’ , the war’s over!

My asst photographer with her favourite tennis player

day 2:

Another beautiful tournament day at the National Tennis Centre,
Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur

Lai Wai Kuen (Port Dickson) vs Sharon Sim (Johor Bahru)

Coleen O’Neal vs Wong Poi Chin

G Ramakrishnan vs Quentin Thorp (70+ age group)

The Negri Sembilan girls - Lai Wai Kuen (Port Dickson)
& Woo Mee Ching (Seremban)

day 4 :

In the shade of the lovely big trees - final day of tennis!

Outdoor arena National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta

Andy Kee, Brian, Alan & Tony Lok (whom I haven’t seen
since the Pyramid days!)

Wan Rahman, Mohd Khairuddin, Perry Lim & SK Tan

Doubles Finals 50-54 age group
Toi See Juan, Law Ling Ching, Robert Pang & Loo Choo Teng

Doubles Finals 45+ age group. Lai Wai Kuen & Sharon Sim
vs Alice Yan & Jennifer Mok

Doubles Final 35-44 age group . Woo Mee Ching & Jennifer Yeoh (both from Seremban) vs Lisbeth Helms (Denmark) & Amanda & Judy Hooppell (Australia)

Official Borhan
in-charge of the indoor courts

The Super Sales Team!

Officials Ghazally & Kamarudin manning the main desk
for 4 days. Check out the official tournament Ts!

Prize Giving for ECB Libra Malaysian Veterans Age Group Tennis Tournament

Dec 4 > NOTE : Will also be putting photos up in Flickr online photo site in next few days.

More Photos!

Anthony Yap also took some nice pix during the Veterans Tennis Tournament. Please click here or http://picasaweb.google.com/ayap44/ECMVetsNov29ToDec2

More News!

Check out the star online 13.12.07 “Veterans make tennis event a success”

Check out nst online 03.12.07 “Tennis : Veterans Age Group Tournament a Hit”

Congrats Rainer Schuettler of Germany (seeded 6th)(world ranked 130) Champion of the USD150,000 Malaysia Open ATP Challenger Series.
Schuettler beat Sergey Stakhovsky of Ukraine (world ranked 262) .

Rainer Schuettler

Top seeded Australian-South African partnership of Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie defeated the Indian-Pakistani combination of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-6 (12-10), 6-3 in the doubles final.

Two Malaysians were given wild cards to play in the main draw. Si Yew Meng in the singles, and with partner veteran Adam Jaya in the doubles.

Now, after a lapse of 10 years since Malaysia hosted an ATP event, was the finals free or RM123?

the most seen image worldwide was of federer and sampras in their fuschia and pistol grey korean robes!

advantage to the korean organisers (& fed in fusch!)

the world’s press kept referring to ‘traditional korean robes’ - its called the Hanbok. play and learn. play and learn

note the traditional american footwear!

nadal renewed my interest in tennis like a dash of brash hair.

2007 was the year of living health. a break from raising it.

my 8 year old daughter started tennis. my 18 year old son insisted on new tennis nikes. and I the ageless (and legless post lessons) was a player born again.

as nadal comes to kl, I raise my racquet, and elbow my way to tennis blogdom.

enjoy tennis elbow room.

liz tajuddin