The Sanctband ITF World Tennis Tour W15 world class tennis tournament in Malaysia was held for the first time at the Arena Tennis Perak in Ipoh.
The tournament involving the participation of 79 female players from 20 countries was held for eight days starting on February 12 and ending yesterday.
President of the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (Tennis Malaysia), Mirzan Mahathir said, it also makes Ipoh the location of the 1st Leg of the W15 tennis tournament for women in the country.
“We are very proud, because this is the first World Tennis Tour W15 1st Leg in the country held in Ipoh, never before.
“In the past it has been held several times but all tournaments were for men,” he said at a press conference at the tennis arena recently.
Also present was the President of the Perak Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA), Fazwil Abdul Wahid.
Mirzan said, after this the tournament for the second Leg will continue in the city of Kuala Lumpur and the third Leg in Kuching.
He said, the organisation of W15 aims to highlight the talent of the country’s female tennis players to also compete with female tennis players at the world level.
“The tournament involves female tennis players from 20 countries, this is a bright opportunity for our female players to be more forward in participating in several world-class tournaments.
He said, this tournament is also one of the strategies to welcome more people to venture into this sport.
“We want to unearth the talent of more female and male tennis players to compete.
“So, we will be able to select many players and improve the level of tennis in the country,” he said.
Sadly nobody knew about this event, hardly any publicity at all, failed miserably to attract the public to this ITF World Junior Tour.