Tennis
KUCHING: Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) will proceed with its three major international tennis tournaments here.
The tournaments which are organised by SLTA and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and supported by the state government and Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) are the 35th Sarawak Chief Minister Cup (1) ITF World Tennis Tour J1 Sarawak from March 10 to 15, Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Final Qualifying.
The Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Final Qualifying will be played at SLTA Centre from March 30 to April 4 while the Junior Davis by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Final Qualifying will be held at SLTA centre from April 5 to 10.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the tournaments have to proceed but will have to follow strictly control measures enforced by the state’s disaster committee, the state Immigration Department and other relevant agencies.
“The tournaments have to proceed. We cannot be over alarmed by the situation (Convid-19 outbreak) but of course we have to be cautious,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Karim said the state government is also very careful with several measures taken at all the main airports in the state.
He added that all the players and their officials must adhere to measures and restrictions enforced by the authorities with regards to their entry into the state.
Karim said there may be certain appeals which SLTA need to forward to the state disaster committee besides forwarding the list of the players and officials.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president Datuk Patrick Liew said they have informed the International Tennis Federation (ITF) with regards to the Convid-19 situation here.
“ITF wanted to know the status of allowing the participants to come in here and we already updated ITF with our state’s policies on the Convid-19 issue,” said Liew.
Liew explained that the players from China and Hong Kong are not coming directly from their respective countries as they are travelling all over the world for their tournaments.
“The chances of getting the players into the state look good as they have been going around the world and not coming directly from China or Hong Kong,” he added.
He said they are working with the Immigration Department on the matter and will forward the list of players and officials to the department as well as to the state disaster committee.
Liew thanked the Sport Ministry for their financial support, adding that its minister (Karim) has been very supportive of SLTA’s events.
He said besides receiving grants from the state government, SLTA also received RM200,000 grant from ITF to cover the cost of organising the tournaments
