Er Yang wants gold for Selvam

NEGRI Sembilan's Khoo Er Yang will dedicate the gold medal to former national player and coach V. Selvam if he wins the men's singles title.

The top seed overcame a difficult first set before overcoming Selangor's Colin Wong 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Er Yang, who is coached by Selvam, is the favourite in this event.

"I owe Selvam a lot. I've improved so much under him," said Er Yang yesterday.

"My goal is to win the singles title. I've been working hard since the start of the year for this tournament."

The Form Five student with SMK St Paul is one of the few dedicated junior players in the country and travels from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur daily to train under Selvam at the Jalan Duta Tennis Centre.

Er Yang will face Kuala Lumpur's fourth seed Wan Abdul Muiz, who beat Perlis' Akmal Hakim 6-4, 6-4, in today's semi-finals.

Selangor's third seed Juan Antonio Los Santos turned in a near-perfect performance to thrash Kelantan's Muhammad Hafiz 6-0, 6-0 and next plays Negri's second seed Mohd Faeez Said, who beat KL's Sean Yip 6-3, 7-5, for a place in the final.

Los Santos, who was once among the top 120 junior players in the world, is competing in only his second tournament since returning to tennis few weeks ago.

He caused a stir in last month's National Circuit third leg by reaching the singles final before losing to Si Yew Meng.

"It will be great if I can win a title in my only second tournament of the year," said Los Santos, who turns 18 on Friday.

SELECTED RESULTS -- Men's singles, q-finals: Khoo Er Yang (NS) bt Colin Wong (Sel) 6-4, 6-1; Wan Abdul Muiz (KL) bt Akmal Hakim (Per) 6-4, 6-4; Juan Antonio Los Santos (Sel) bt Muhammad Hafiz (Kel) 6-0, 6-0; Mohd Faeez Said (NS) bt Sean Yip (KL) 6-3, 7-5.

Women's singles, q-finals: Jawairiah Noordin (NS) bt Chan Ji Qi (Mel) 6-0, 6-0; R. Archnaah (Sel) bt Michelle Khoo (Pen) 6-3, 6-2; Ti Jia Wei (Pah) bt Nur Alialiyana Azman (Per) 6-0, 6-0; Alyssa Boey (Sel) bt Nor Fara Ain (NS) 6-0, 6-4. -- AJITPAL SINGH