[Pesta Sukan Tennis 2013] Anwar bids goodbye to competitive tennis after losing game to Julian

By Janet Chia

(original submission to voxsports)

The evening of 16^th July saw the Veteran’s Men’s Singles 45 years and above match in action at Kallang Tennis Centre. The match between Salam Anwar (in orange) and Julian Theng (in white) took place in court 4.

The Pesta Sukan Veteran’s Men’s Singles 45 years and above title was clinched by Anwar last year. The 51 year old tennis coach had played tennis since 10 year old and won the Pesta Sukan twice in his competitive career. However, he revealed plan to step down after this tournament. He was up against 45 year old Julian Theng, an eye surgeon by profession, who had qualified for the Veteran’s category for the first time.

The duo was off to a slow start in their first set with long exchanges, until the first point was awarded to Julian when Anwar’s drop shot failed to cross the net.  Anwar then stepped up the game with more powerful forehand returns which sent Julian scrambling around the court. The second point went to Anwar again as he managed a successful chip and charge.

However, Julian turned the table around as his backspin overwhelmed Anwar who returned several outs.  Julian’s skillful play saw him push forth and take the lead.

As the game progressed, Anwar became noticeably tired against the energetic Julian. At one point , Anwar had sat down on the floor briefly before his service. In an attempt to change his strategy, Anwar added more power to his first service, however they were power over accuracy and saw Anwar committing double fault when he missed out again in the second service.  

Julian then capitalized on Anwar’s energy drain by forcing error out of him in long exchanges. The long exchanges saw Anwar losing more points as he returned more outs while missing some. Julian sealed the match with a lob as the ball went out of reach of Anwar while landing in play.  

The game concluded in 6-1, 6-0, to Julian.

Despite losing the match, Anwar complimented Julian on his skillful play and hoped that “super fit” Julian will take on as “his successor” to win this year’s Pesta Sukan.