Singapore Junior Boys Tennis Team victorious in Colombo, Sri Lanka
1 February 2023
Zachary Sng helped Singapore win an ITF World Junior pre-qualifying tournament in Colombo, a national first.
The Singapore Junior Boys’ tennis team emerged victorious on 18 February, winning the ITF World Junior Tennis Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournament by defeating Kyrgyzstan in the finals at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
SJI's Zachary Sng (pictured left) was part of the squad, together with Luke Ho Jie Xi (Raffles Institution) and Allen Leong (Victoria School), who were led by Singapore Tennis Association (STA) National Training Squad coach and Team Captain Kiren Kumar, played a nail-biting doubles decider, and won straight sets 6-4, 6-1 after a tie on the singles match played earlier in the day.
During the 6-day tournament under extreme conditions that saw participation from 14 countries, the Singapore Boys team topped their group matches defeating perennial arch-rivals Malaysia 3-0 and Yemen 3-0. They progressed to the quarterfinals defeating Lebanon 3-0, and Turkmenistan 3-0 in the semi-finals before defeating Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in the finals to claim a historic win.
This is the first time that a Singapore team has won the ITF Junior Tennis Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournament. They will continue to the Asia Oceania Finals Qualifying to be held in Kuching, Sarawak in March where they will face the powerhouses of Asia tennis comprising 16 teams including Australia, Japan and Korea.
📸 Photo credit: Singapore Tennis Association