IPOH – The lack of a dedicated court for training proved to be no obstacle for national youth tennis player Mitsuki Leong who is preparing for tournaments at the international level.
On the contrary, Mitsuki Leong Wei Kang, 17, and his younger sister Shihomi Leong Li Xuan, 14, have been training together at the state-owned tennis court near the Sultan Abdul Aziz Recreation Park here, after obtaining permission from the Perak State Sports Council with the help of Perak Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) vice-president Fazwil Abdul Wahid.
The special request was granted as the Perak Tennis Arena owned by the Ipoh City Council, which is a world-class court at Perak Stadium, was used as a Covid-19 Assessment Centre since 2020.
Their father Jeff Leong, who is a full-time freelance coach, said his two children, who attended Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Poi Lam in Klebang here, remained enthusiastic about training despite having to take turns using the state-owned court with dozens of other players.
“It may be cumbersome but there are no other top facilities as a proper place to train and they had to make do with this court, for their uninterrupted training due to constant participation in competitions in order to maintain their world rankings.
“We struggled a great deal during the Covid-19 pandemic as we had to find more funds to cover screening tests and quarantine processes when leaving the country,” Jeff said when met by Bernama.
Jeff said he was preparing to bring Mitsuki to compete in the J4 and J5 Youth Championships in Singapore and the Thai Open but it was understood that both countries closed their competitions due to restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said efforts to lift the two athletes to world standards had the support of the PLTA, under the auspices of the Perak State Sports Council because they had been trained since the tender age of five for their high potential and deep interest in the racquet sport.
Mitsuki has so far lifted four titles at the Thailand World Junior Tennis Championships and International Tennis Federation (ITF) meet held in Nonthaburi Thailand recently.
Ranked 1,150th among teenage players in the world, Mitsuki managed to leapfrog up the ITF rankings to rank 339th in the world.
His highest ranking once reached the top 200 teenagers in the world but dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic which blocked their participation in overseas tournaments.
He won the singles event in three tournaments, the first J5 last year (Nov 16-20) and two other tournaments, the ITF J4 (Nov 30-Dec 4) and ITF J4 (Nov 7-11) besides emerging as the J5 doubles champion (Nov 23-27).
In addition to Mitsuki, his younger sister made it to the semi-finals of the last J4 tournament.
Meanwhile, PLTA vice-president Fazwil chimed in, saying he thought Mitsuki’s recent success in Thailand made him the youngest tennis player and the only national player to win the most ITF youth tournaments to date.
“Mitsuki and Shihomi are prodigies who should be given special attention so that they can be honed and nurtured to rank among professional tennis players who compete on the world tennis stage (ATP level) and it is not impossible to become champions at the Grand Slam level,” Fazwil said.
He also hoped that there would be corporate bodies, government-linked companies (GLCs), government agencies or the private sector willing to contribute financial assistance for Mitsuki and Shihomi to raise Malaysia's profile in the world tennis arena. – Bernama, January 2, 2022
