Axed event source of medals for Pinoys: Phl: Reinstate SEAG tennis

MANILA, Philippines - Tennis officials are not giving up on their bid to convince Myanmar to put back the sport in the coming Southeast Asian Games.

According to Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (Philta) secretary general Romeo Magat, the Philippines and nine other nations are seeking to bring back the event to the Dec. 11-22 meet and will make more appeals, first through “diplomatic” channels then through the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and International Tennis Federation (ITF).

“Per our recent (ATF) meeting in Bangkok, we’re going to take the diplomatic approach, which I think is the strongest since it will have a bigger impact. The ambassadors of the 10 countries to Myanmar will write Myanmar’s ambassador to their respective countries to request the Myanmar Olympic Committee to re-consider tennis as part of the SEA Games,” Magat said.

Magat said he feels this approach has a “very high percentage” of producing results but just the same, the bidders have tapped the help of ATF president Anil Khanna and ITF director Suwat Liptapanlop of Thailand to make further representations.

“Mr. Anil Khanna and Suwat will make a last ditch appeal (on our behalf). By mid-March, they will request an audience with the executive board of the Myanmar Olympic Committee for the inclusion of tennis,” Magat said.  

Tennis, which would have had seven gold medals at stake, is among the Olympic sports that the Burmese hosts have scrapped from their program, citing the “poor conditions” of their tennis center.

But Magat twitted the hosts’ primary reason for delisting the sport.

“They claim their tennis center is not suitable for international competition and yet they are hosting the Davis Cup in April. The requirements for the Davis Cup and the SEA Games are just the same,” he said, referring to the Asia Oceania Zone Group IV hostilities that Yangon’s Thein Byu Tennis Stadium will host from April 22-28.

“Perhaps it’s mainly because they don’t have players to compete for the seven golds,” he added.

Tennis is traditionally a source of medal for the Phl. Last time in Indonesia, Pinoy netters won one gold, two silver and three bronzes.