Singles

DSOBA celebrates a new 2004 tennis singles champion, Joseph Wan (86), when he defeated reigning champion, Victor Tan (80), with a final score of 6-0, 6-3 on January 25, 2005 at the American Club.

Joseph cruised through the first set with confident shot making and big serves without letting Victor settle into a tempo. The second set began with Victor holding serve and taking a break to go up an early 2-0 only to see Joseph reasserted his force to even up the score at 3-3. Good hitting and long deuces in those early games of the second set marked the highlights of the evening match. Eventually, Victor failed to hold serve in the seventh game and as quickly Joseph cranked up to hold and broke again to claim the championship.

With the school's venue under renovation, the early round matches were held on January 9 at the Cornwall Street public courts with booking help from Mahmood. This year also featured new entrants including Noriman Mak (77)), Jonathon Leung (74)) and Joseph Wan (86) adding a new level of excitement to our annual gathering.

Equal thanks go to our constant avid supporters including Selwyn Chan (77), Leung Sze Wai (69), Leung Man Tak (65), Michael Tsang (84), Paul Li (82), Sammy Tam (82), Patrick Chan (80), Jonathon Wong (85), and Mahmood Rumjahn (74).

As organizer of this tournament, I would like to call on all interested to participate at the 2005 event. Let's serve up some clean fun and enjoy healthy competition amongst old friends!

Doubles

Eight teams took part in the doubles tournament held on January 30 at the Shek Kip Mei public courts on Cornwall Street.

To no one's surprise, there were no easy matches from the first round to the final. The first round match between Selwyn Chan/Stanley Fong against Patrick Chan/Paul Li went the distance to tie-break when Stanley/Selwyn surrendered their early lead and allowed Patrick/Paul back into the match and claimed victory with a tiebreak score of 8-6. The Leung Brothers, perennial challengers and winners of past years, fought a tough match against first-time partners Michael Tsang and Victor Tan. Unfortunately, the Leung's had to bow out early with a score of 8-3 score that featured many long deuces and key breaks. Jonathon Wong and our newly-crowned singles champ, Joseph Wan, had a relatively easier match against Sammy Tam and Louis Wong but not without the two 'Sze Hing's' putting up a valiant effort. Mahmood armed with Leon Chiu also played a close match against Eugene Chow and Leung Man Tak, who has earned the new nickname, "the Elastic-Boy" (as in reference to "Elastic-Girl" in the new animation - The Incredibles) for his relentless playing.

In the end, the final between Mahmood/Leon against Jonathon/Joseph was every bit as exciting. The guys brought out their "A" game with sharp volleys, big serves and very smart plays. Both teams put up a good fight until Mahmood and Leon held on to their breaks and won the championship with the final score of 8-3.

The trophy ceremony will take place at the next Annual General Meeting with presentations to the singles and doubles winners and runners-up. Please check out our website for exact date. We look forward to having everyone attend and celebrate with the new winners.

Last but not least, congrats to the winners and thanks to all the participants for supporting another great tennis tournament!

Victor Tan (80)