FOBISIA TENNIS INVITATIONAL 2023

Dan Ahl Head Tennis Coach, Bangkok Patana Tennis Academy

With the return of overseas travelling teams and a bumper entry, this years event trialled a new format with a qualifying event for Bangkok based schools taking place between the 3rd - 5th of March with 180 entries from 15 schools.

Those students who qualified then joined the overseas students from TES, BSM, ISPU, UWCD, UWCE and ISP in the main draw with both events taking place and hosted by Bangkok Patana School.

Individual events were run at U12, U14 and U16 level for both boys and girls with either 16 or 20 players taking part in each main draw event which started in round robin groups of 4 before moving onto a knockout event where the top 2 in each group went into one section and the bottom into another.

Competition was fierce throughout with the U12 boys being particularly strong; it was noticeable that the Bangkok based students who had already had to qualify were performing well.

With so many matches to play, days were long and although this is at times challenging for organisers, staff and students, once it cooled down and the floodlights were on the late matches was still as competitive. With all semi finals and finals taking place on the Sunday the stage was set for some real blockbuster matches and most didn’t disappoint giving the many spectators present plenty to applaud.

The final match count reached 293 in the main draw which when the 200 qualifying matches were added was an amazing number.

Finally thanks to my coaching staff who were ready and willing to help and assist with any matter big or small and who spent many an hour out on the courts supervising and supporting matches.