Sabah’s Christian Chin, first Malaysian to be ranked in Asian U14

Sabah”s top junior Christian Chin became Malaysia”s  first tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in Asia when Asia Tennis Federation ( ATF ) released the 14 & under ranking last  week. Christian’s no.  1 ranking in Asia  made him the first Sabahan Malaysian to become no. 1. 

He created history for Sabah and Malaysia. Sabah  tennis president Johnson Koh was very happy after he briefed the sports minister last week on Christian’s achievements. The whole tennis fraternity is proud of the achievements.
Johnson would like to thank everyone who have contributed towards this historic record achievements.

LTAM president Tan Sri Razak  Latiff expressed happiness and proud of Christian Chin’s record achievements. Razak also thanked the federal sports ministry for allocating funds  through the federal sports council for development of junior tennis at district levels. This have helped the tennis promotion in the states. Tan Sri Razak urged the state MSN to start an academy for tennis. He is proud as he also have  business links  in Sabah. 

STA president noted that Christian have improved tremendously after he joined the LTAM academy and trained under several coaches especially with Dutch coach Eric Petierz. Christian will now go for the junior tournaments in Singapore this week in conjunction with WTA  tournament’s side events.
STA have applied to the sports ministry and MSN to enable him to go to the USA Orange Bowl Junior tournaments with LTAM”s backing. Two names have been submitted and waiting for confirmation.  

KL LTA President Mirzan Tun Mahathir is also elated to see Sabah have a top ranked player in Asia. He have not been able to get one for K. L although K L always have top ranked players but not ranked first in Asia. He lauded STA’s efforts in “ scouting talent among school kids” and hopes Christian will be able to go further by sustaining his form and discipline.  Mirzan hopes that all the relevant authorities will continue to help in supporting Christian to attain world class standards and hopefully become one of the  top rank player in the ATP.  

Selangor LTA President Datuk A Malik Salleh who himself is a top state player during his heydays is also proud for Christian and Sabah. Although K L, Selangor, N. S and Penang have strong players over the years but this time  for a Malaysian to be ranked number 1  in Asia is something Malaysia must be proud of, especially Sabah. Malik also hopes that he will be given the necessary support and encouragement to continue his improvement to get into world ranking in the ATP. If he can continue to do so he will be an example for Malaysian tennis players. Sabah is in the right track with STA President Johnson Koh ( my good friend during my playing days and still is ) in the helm in Sabah Tennis. Keep up the program in Sabah.  

Sabah Youth & Sports Minister YB Datuk Tawfiq  Abu Bakar Titingan during STA President’s briefing told Johnson that he is proud for Christian Chin and he will discuss with his ministry officers and MSN on what can be provided for Christian to go for higher levels in ATP after his achievements  in the ATF level as number one in Asia.  Tawfiq asked STA to continue with the junior program of “scouting talent from school kids” which is bearing fruit now. Continue with the program and spread out to more kids and make the base bigger so that we will have more players to compete with. Tawfiq also acknowledged that the number one ranking is not easy to get and this is a historical achievement for not only Sabah but Malaysia.!  

STA President would like to thank the ministries of Sports and tourism for the financial assistance and guidance given to STA over the years.

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