Aung Kyaw Naing whips a double-handed return back to his opponent.

MYANMAR’S youth tennis teams have qualified in three out of the four Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying events held at Thein Byu Tennis Centre, Yangon, from March 2-9.

With the financial and technical support of International Tennis Federation (ITF), Myanmar hosted four events: The World Junior Tennis Competition 2009 (Asia/Oceania zone, pre-qualifying round) for boys and girls from March 2-4; the Junior Fed Cup 2009 (Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying) on March 2-4; the Junior Davis Cup 2009 (Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying) on March 5-9.

Fifty-two players from eight countries including Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Mongolia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Malaysia travelled to Myanmar to take part, while Myanmar put up six men and six women for the competitions.

In the Women’s World Junior category four countries were due to compete, including Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Philippines but the Philippines team withdrew. Myanmar’s side included Nilar Win, Sharr Poe Lai and Wint Thazin Htike and defeated Singapore 2-1. The side then repeated its performance against Sri Lanka and finished as the winner.

However, all three sides advanced to the Asia/Oceania qualifying event for the World Junior Tennis (Girls) to be played in Malaysia in May this year.

In Men’s World Junior category Myanmar faced Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.

Naung Sit Thu Zaw, Thaw Zin Soe and Hein Min Kyaw represented Myanmar and the team defeated Kazakhstan 2-1, Singapore 2-1 and then brushed Sri Lanka aside 3-0 to finish top of the table.

In the Men’s Junior Davis Cup round that featured Bahrain, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, it was Uzbekistan who triumphed, with Pakistan placing second and Myanmar third. Myanmar’s side included Aung Kyaw Naing, Tin Myo Wai and Aung Kyaw Oo. Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Myanmar all advanced to the Asia/Oceania qualifying round for the Junior Davis Cup to be played in Australia in April 2009.

Tournament director for the Myanmar Tennis Federation, U Maung Maung Lay, held no doubts as to why the Myanmar team qualified for three of four tournaments.

“Our success in qualified in three categories was due to the amount our players practiced – we’ve run camps with them since early 2008 to prepare for these events and they practiced hard,” he said.

However, he conceded that the solitary qualifying failure – in the Women’s Junior Fed Cup – was through a lack of preparation, with players Lwin Zar Oo, Khine Nyein Thar and Khaing War only able to train for a couple of weeks prior to the competition. The side lost all three ties by 3-0 against Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.