By Mei Kuan
This morning saw the inauguration of an additional tennis court at YMCA Ipoh along Jalan Raja Musa Aziz, which was completed just a week ago.
Made possible by the generous contribution from BP Healthcare, the groundbreaking ceremony of the hard court unfolded in October last year.
The opening of the court featured an exhibition match in Fast 6 format by 12 doubles pairs representing two teams namely BP Healthcare and YMCA.
The former was led by Dato’ Daniel Tay, President of YMCA Ipoh with Dr Yee Meng Kheong, Captain of PTC @ YMCA as doubles partner while the latter was led by Tan Sri Lee Oi Hian, Chief Executive Officer of Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) with P. Das (Kiko), Vice President of the Perak Lawn Tennis Association as doubles partner.
During the friendly tennis challenge, BP Healthcare prevailed with an overall score of 6-4 as follows:
BP Court
Dr JE Foo/Kar Wai vs Kiko/Fazwil: 6-5 (7-3)
Dato’ Daniel Tay/ Dr MK Yee vs Tan Sri Lee OH/ Kiko: 3-6
Hard Court
Ken Chong/CC Tan vs YY Chin/Foo LF: 6-3
Richard Wu/Vestene Chan vs Pavan/Teik Lee: 6-5 (7-4)
Grass Court (Moses Tay Tennis Arena)
Dominic Loh/Wan Kong vs Kenny Lai/Ram Kumar: 6-3
Pinky Leong/Vestene Chan vs Fiona Toh/Shamaine Chong: 2-6
Another highlight of the launch was the presentation of a RM5000 cheque from YMCA Ipoh to Persatuan DAYBREAK (DAYBREAK is an acronym for Disabled Adults and Youths Being Rewarded, Encouraged and Accepted in Kinta).
“The contribution goes towards the running cost of the charitable NGO based in Ipoh which currently has 41 young adult trainees,” Lim Mey Ling, Chairperson of Persatuan DAYBREAK, explained to Ipoh Echo.
Present were Mah Lai Heng, Group Chief Operating Officer of BP Healthcare representing Dato’ Dr. Beh Chun Chuan, Chairperson of BP Healthcare, Datin Saw Siew Phaik, wife of Dato’ Daniel Tay and members of the Board of Directors of YMCA Ipoh.
With the latest addition, YMCA Ipoh now offers six tennis courts, made up of three grass courts and three hard courts. It is also the only venue offering grass courts, which require very high maintenance, in the whole of Perak.
“The four biggest tennis tournaments in the world are played on various court surfaces such as clay (French Open), grass (Wimbledon) and hard (US Open and Australian Open). Grass courts are easy on the knees especially for older people,” the amiable Daniel shared.
Besides the tennis courts, the NGO has a plethora of other sports facilities such as 10 badminton courts and a football field which are all open to the public at only a minimal fee.
For inquiries or bookings for the sports facilities in YMCA Ipoh, call 052540809. Its office operates from 9am till 5pm from Monday to Friday.
