Comments by Dr. Margaret Harris Cheng
Tropical Storm Koni tried to bring storms to Hong Kong this past weekend but the real thunder and lightning was on the tennis courts at the Hong Kong Sports Institute as the teams topping the Junior Team Tennis Leagues fought out the Spring 2003 playoffs.
After two days of tense battles and exciting tennis, Ace United, which finished second on the points table took the A grade championship in a very close final with Swan, the grade points champion.
Pacific was third and Fairview Park came in fourth.
Playoff Results
In B grade playoff action, Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC), the team that dominated the grade throughout the season, showed they are now ready to challenge the A grade teams by winning their semi-finals and finals comfortably to take the B grade championship.
The first runner up was Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC), which earned its place in the final with consistent play and excellent team spirit.
Third place was captured by Kowloon Tong Club (KTC), another team with great team spirit and strong parental support, as they overcame Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club, who also showed plenty of team spirit and active, committed parents.
In C grade, Sports Development Board (SDB) 2, the team with the loudest parental cheerleading squad, showed their perfect, unbeaten record during the regular season was no accident.
In two close round robin matches, SDB 2 managed to defeat CCC in a deciding tiebreak, and edged out Hong Kong Cricket Club (HKCC) Red by taking the doubles 6-4.
At the end of the C round robin finals, SDB 2 emerged as overall and points Champion, while HKCC Red was first runner-up and CCC came third.
In all three grades - A, B, and C - the standard was exceptionally high and the eventual champions had to fight to the last point to earn their trophies.
The trophies were awarded by several current and former junior star players - Michael Lai, Yu Hiu Tung and Mr. Junior Tennis himself, Benny Lin, Head Coach of the Hong Kong Tennis Association and its Talent Group training, and mentor to the many talented junior players joining HKTA?s training programs.
Not only was the standard very high, but the sportsmanship displayed by some teams was a credit to their coaches, parents and to the players themselves, of course.
The Craigengower Cricket Club C team was outstanding, always putting forth their best effort, always supporting their team members, respecting their opponents? good play, and making their line calls fairly and clearly. Many individuals played excellent, fair matches but Michael Kwong of the Fairview Park Country Club A team was a standout, displaying true sportsmanship in his singles semi-final set against Swan.
This year, as a result of the interruption caused by SARS made the league season much longer than normal, the League Management Committee used a shortened format allowing each team to field four players per match, while one point was awarded for each of two singles sets and two points for the third set, played as doubles.
This new format meant no one knew whether or not they had won until that last doubles set had been played and proved to be an exciting way to play finals. We may adopt this as the play-off format in the future if most teams are in agreement. Please give us your feedback by email to allisonlg@tennishk.org.