More countries and regions send players to Asian Tennis Championship 2009

www.chinaview.cn, 2009-03-20 21:24:32

JAKARTA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- More countries and regions sent players to attend the Asian Tennis Championship 2009 after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) rearranged the division system for the championship.

The new members entering for the competition, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyszstan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Malaysia, increased the number of participating countries and regions to 20.

Just a few days before Friday's opening ceremony of the event in Jakarta, the organizing committee only received nine applicants, namely China, the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Indonesia, ITF's official August Ferry Raturandang told Xinhua.

He said some countries from Central Asia and West Asia finally decided to attend the championship when the ITF arranged the new division system.

Sixty-five athletes from 20 countries and regions showed up at the Championship opening ceremony. The host Indonesia sent the largest team with five players.

Editor: Zhang Xiang