Tennis

Leong siblings hope to roar in Year of the Tiger

The Leong siblings, Mitsuki and Shihomi, are fired up to achieve more in tennis following their fine performances in Singapore.

They will be spending the first day of Chinese New Year in Singapore with their relatives and will likely head home to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.

The siblings had done well in several ITF junior J4 and J5 events in Singapore last month.

Mitsuki, 17, achieved a clean sweep of titles, winning in both the singles and doubles (with Singapore's Michael Dylan Jimenez) at both events.

Shihomi, 14, also won the singles in both tournaments, as well as the J5 doubles with Singapore's Tan Sue Yan.

For Mitsuki, it was his fourth ITF junior singles title in a row as he had won back-to-back J4 titles in Thailand in November and December last year.

While pleased with their performances in Singapore, the siblings are hungry for more titles.

"I am satisfied with my performance here over the last two weeks. I played solid tennis, especially during the J4 tournament," said Mitsuki when contacted in Singapore.

"I definitely need to brush up on my game as I am planning to go for higher grade tournaments next."

Shihomi said: "It was a great experience. I'm quite happy with my performance, but I believe I can do better.

"I need to be more aggressive with my game as the aim is to take on stronger players in the future," said Shihomi.

The siblings are coached by their father, Jeff Leong.

The duo, however, do not mind spending the first day of Chinese New Year away from home as they have relatives in Singapore.

"This is not the first time I have missed celebrating Chinese New Year (at home). Two years ago, I was away competing in India," said Mitsuki.

"I will definitely miss home and will video call my family members back in Malaysia. We will, however, be having our reunion dinner with our relatives here (Singapore) for the first time."

"We will be spending the day with them," added Shihomi.

Though they do have some small sponsors, the duo are largely self-funded and welcome support from those interested in sponsoring them.

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