In December every year since the 1980’s, Perlis has associate a junior international tennis tournament in Kangar. Since then, other neighboring states like Kedah and Penang have joined to make the tournament a 3 tournaments combined together at the end of the year.
These tournaments were held mostly on school holiday in Malaysia and were a tournament period where the foreigner players came and compete in these tournaments. Among countries coming were Korean, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Monggolia. There were other players from countries like , South African, the Australian, Tajikistan, Indonesian but they were not regular.
The Hatyai, Thailand tournament came later after Kedah were not capable anymore in hosting the games. Kedah have lost their slot since nobody in association was passionate enough to continue doing the tournament. Hatyai Tennis Academy took over and it is now taken by them.
The Penang and Perlis tournament remain the same with players were waiting to compete in. The level was quite high with the Korean getting in bringing their best players from the nation. Korean players were among players who manage to win most of the categories in all ages. They have been dominating the games since the beginning of their participation.
This year in 10 & under, they have brought the number 1st seeded and 5th seeded in the Korean Elementary School Tournament held in Yanggu Korea. The Korean were more consistent and they were seem to have more hours on court compared to the Malaysian players.
In 2024, Perlis have decline to host the tournament since the courts were badly need a resurfacing. Kangar sports complex tennis courts were not fit to be held competition, especially for international tournaments. In 2024, even the Tennis Malaysia Junior tour was cancelled because of the courts. ITF and ATF tournaments were also did not able to be held in Kangar.
In each year, tournaments were started with Penang International Junior since many players from outside country will arrive in Penang airport. Then they will head to Kangar Perlis for another tournament and head to Hatyai, Thailand for the last tournament.
It is a good 3 tournaments with single and doubles matches. Players able to play more and travel to different places. For the players outside of Malaysia, the transportation was given each year to commute to the courts and venue. Even when to go to other tournaments was taken care off. The players were also given the airport transfer from airport to hotel.
For players and coaches from other countries that are interested to join, it is good to come and have the taste of different nation of players game style. The Korean, Philippines and Singapore players were showing good standards in this recent years. Hoping to get the best juniors to come and compete to know the current level. Here at these tournaments, they are like the Asia Games of Junior tennis match.
2025 dates will come out early next year. Prepare yourself to come to these three tournaments to get to play to the best players in Asia.