Johnson Koh
KOTA KINABALU: TennisMalaysia (Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia) will write and seek the approval of the federal Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican to make tennis a compulsory sport in the Malaysia Games (Sukma).
The suggestion was adopted at the TennisMalaysia meeting via Zoom last Saturday, which was chaired by president Mirzan Tun Mahathir.
TennisMalaysia vice president Johnson Koh and the president have been very vocal and consistent in pursuing the issue, right from when Khairy Jamaluddin and then Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman were the sports ministers.
Koh in his capacity as Sabah Tennis Association (STA) president has also written to Reezal and still awaiting result.
“However, TennisMalaysia’s exco during its last meeting conducted online adopted the suggestion to write and meet up with current sport minister to convince and provide reasons on why tennis must be a compulsory sports in all Sukma,” Koh said in a statement on Monday.
He reasoned tennis was world ranked second in prize money offered and equally the second most viewed and popular as an individual sport other than golf.
“Tennis is also in the Olympics, Asian Games and SEA Games but when it comes to Sukma which is held every two years, it is not a compulsory sport … what about the promotion and how can tennis progress.
“Furthermore, when the kids train with support of their parents, the hope is they get to represent their district and then the state and country.
“But in Sukma which is an inter-state games, tennis is not compulsory.
“They train hard with hope of representing their state but in the end tennis is omitted by the host … this will definitely kills the enthusiasm and spirit of the players concern.
“The age limit is 21 years old. But, if the sport is omitted the player might be over age by the next round and furthermore, the player still need to wait in suspense on whether the sport is in or not,” added Koh.
For the record, the 20th edition of Sukma which is the country’s premier multi-sport event was to take place in Johor in 2020 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has since been postponed to 2022.
Meanwhile, the exco meeting also adopted unanimously the suggestion put up by Koh as chairman for the sub-committee of media and communications to have a yearly forum or dialogue with the tennis fraternity.
“This forum or dialogue will be for all to know the current true and exact positions of TennisMalaysia in terms of financial status, capabilities, restrictions and other current matters.
“This dialogue will give the opportunity for the national body to get valuable feedback on what needs or can be done to further enrich the tennis fraternity.
“There maybe things which the national body miss or need back up,” said Koh.
Other matters discussed during the recent meeting included the association’s financial situation, selection process for the national squad as well as code of conduct for the national team players.
All the upcoming tournaments too were put on hold or on stand-by depending on the Covid-19 condition in the country.