Twenty-three men and women tennis fanatics from the Chinese and Korean community braved the heat and played friendly matches in the second Sino-Korean team tennis competition.  The event took place in Ville St Lauren last Saturday 23 July amid 31C weather and relentless sun.  

Cohosted by Abigail Liu, Director of Triple-A Sports, and Jin Bae, a leader and coach in the Korean tennis community, the Sino-Korean event was founded last year at the request of players as a “gap-filler” for lack of activities or competition during the COVID pandemic.  It turned out to be popular, gathering some of the best recreational tennis players in the Chinese and Korean community, two of the largest Asian communities in Montreal.  This year it attracted even more participants, resulting in two Chinese teams – Team A and B, each consisting of seven players (five men and two women), while Team Korea has eight players including one woman.

 The three teams battled one another in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.  By the time the last point was played short after 3:30 pm Saturday, every player has played three rounds over nearly six hours.  A total of 27 matches were completed.   China B, with solid men’s singles’ result, narrowly edged out China A, which featured strong showing of women players, winning 11 points to A’s 10. Team Korea, its leading player Jin Bae injured and playing only doubles, finished third, with 6 points.

“As important as keeping the competitive spirit going is to make sure that people make friends and have a good time.  We certainly did that,” says a smiling Abigail, a former tour level player and recipient of 2021 Tennis Canada Distinguished Service Award.  “Hats off to the player volunteers and their families who contributed their time to make the event happen.”

Written by Minzhi