It has been an honored to Captained the BJKC Jr for Malaysia in the pre qualifying. It was a good exposure as a tennis coach to be in that tournament and went on to qualify for final qualifying.
Well done NTTA coach to become one of the National Coach to cater the player in BJKC Jr 2025. They will be going to Kazakhstan in May for Final Qualifying.
Elected as the captain for the first time for BJKC Jr was a good exposure to see the level of play of other nations. The pre qualifying was held in Kuching, Sarawak and though it was Ramadhan, that did not hinder players to perform well in the holy month.
Malaysia was drawn in Group C as seeded 4 of the tournament. Among the Nation in the group was Pacific Oceania, Maldives and Mongolia.
BJKC Jr Pre Qualifying only will qualify 2 nations who made it to the finals. But at group stage, we have to focus on winning the first match against Mongolia. We made it with a 3-0 win.
To make the draw open, the winner will play the loser of the other tie. And it happened to be an upset where Maldives went on to win with Pacific Oceania. Malaysia matched against Pacific Oceania was again 3-0 and the last match was also 3-0.
Daania, Adani and Dhevieena delivered their best in the group stages. Winning without going to decider match. I was quite confident with the single match either the 1st single or the second. I can see that both single players were having better consistency and with good guidance I know they can make it to Quarter Finals.
Eyes were on other teams as well since we need to know their strength and weaknesses. Went on to sports massage for better recovery at the end of the group stage and getting ready for the next elimination rounds. Malaysia was drawn with Lebanon in Quarter Final. I was hoping the Quarter Final was against Kuwait since that team was the weakest in all the Quarter Finalist. That did not happen since I was picking up the wrong token during making the draw. We have to settle with Lebanon in Quarter Finals.
Ahead of us was Sri Lanka and Kuwait. I knew, on paper it’s going to be Sri Lanka in the Semi Final, and true, it was Sri Lanka. Our fight with Lebanon was not easy. Both Single players were not bad, but Daania and Adani played better. I was quite concern with Adani where I can see that her performance on second set would decrease. I suspect the physical fitness was the main factor in this since she was playing aggressive since the first point of the tournament. We did win with Lebanon and I chose not to play the doubles to rest the players.
Against Sri Lanka, I knew if we use but Daania and Adani in doubles, we will have good chance. They were quite strong in doubles compared to other players in the tournament. In BJKC Jr, the 2nd single will enter the court first before the second single. Adani went in, and played for more than 3 hours. She won the first set 7-5, but did not manage to get the second set. As previous matches, she had problem with her fitness making her performance plummeted in the second set. Final score was 7-5; 5-7; 6-3. This was the first time they lost a tie in the tournament making us to have a decider match.
At the end of 1st single, after few delays because of the pouring rain, the matches were suspended. We need to wait at the venue for the rain to stop. Adani suddenly fell down, and had a full body cramp. She was at the cafe resting after a hard fought match. She never experience this before and she was panicking. An ambulance was there to bring her to the nearby hospital.
Treated at the emergency, she was release about two hours. Lesson learnt. She needs to hydrate more before going into a match. Recovery and better stretch routine should be done after each matches played. But we were still 1-1 with Sri Lanka. There was option to change the line up in doubles. But we waited until tomorrow to see if she can recover.
Going into the decider doubles match, the Sri Lankan was standing at the base line. I was quite confidence when seeing this since we will have the chance to be aggressive with going to the net. Adani did recover and she said she was ok to play the doubles. We won and went to the Final.
Reminded her that it was the final day. We went through and the Final round was half an hour after the last point in doubles. Daania was quite fit, she was good to go for the first single but I have to put Dhevieena for the second single. She played well in the first set, winning the set with 7-5. In the second set, she told me about she was having goosebump on her thigh. I can see that as well and that was a sign for the body cannot regulate the temperature. It was a warning sign of the body.
Our doubles never lost in any matches. Hence, we won with a 2-1 score against the Philippines. This made us the champ of the play off tournament and Kazakhstan is waiting for us in May.
They deserve the wins after few occasion of hardships on courts and off courts. Pretty sure the final qualifying will be even harder. It consist of nations with higher quality of plays. Matches will be harder in May of course.
Since the Davis Cup Jr is starting, organizer the Sarawak Tennis Association had organize a dinner for coaches and players. A little rewards for the players.
Let’s see how the girls will perform in Kazakh soon.