9th diplomatic tennis tournament rocks!

Members of the diplomatic community, Korea Times staff and other guests pose for a photo prior to the ninth Diplomatic Tennis Championships at the Grand Hyatt hotel tennis court in Seoul, Saturday. In the photo are Park Moo-jong, president-publisher of The Korea Times; Cho Tae-yul, second vice foreign minister, Mexican Ambassador Martha Ortiz de Rosas, New Zealand Ambassador Patrick Rata, Hungarian Ambassador Miklos Lengyal, Swiss Ambassador Jorg Al. Reding, Spanish Ambassador Luis Arias Romero; and Paraguayan Ambassador Ceferino Valdez. / Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul

Czech team wins title

By Jung Min-ho

Milos Sklenka, head of the Czech embassy’s economic and commercial mission, and his partner Kim Hong-ryll won The Korea Times 9th Diplomatic Tennis Championships Saturday after overcoming a stiff challenge from their Belgian opponents in the final.

At the Grand Hyatt hotel tennis courts, last event’s runner-up Sklenka came back stronger with Kim, who effectively backed him up all the way through the competition in which 16 teams participated.

“It is such a perfect day,” Sklenka said.

“I want to congratulate The Korea Times for the wonderful event. It is very nice and well-organized. Even compared with other diplomatic tennis contests that I participated in other postings, this is by far the best one.”

Milos Sklenka of Czech Republic serves.

The victory was a result of efficient play and selfless teamwork, which prevented the winners from losing points by howlers. The Embassy of Belgium’s commercial attache Baudouin de Hemptinne and his wife Corine de Hemptinne had determination and sharp smashes, which tied the score 4-4 at one point, but fell with their own errors.

Team Belgium’s critical serve error during the ninth game finally tipped the balance, and they failed to make it deuce in the next game.

While the sun was setting, Baudouin’s last volley soared high and hit the wrong spot to wrap up the match with 6-4.

Sklenka found the final “very challenging” but said the event was more for developing personal and professional ties among embassies.

Corine de Hemptinne of Belgium winces in despair after her team misses a shot.

“We won, but we recognize other participants’ great performance,” Sklenka said.

“I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”

Kim said he also enjoyed a “good day” and attributed the win to Sklenka’s performance that showed almost no mistake.

Team Czech displayed a dominant performance from the get-go, easily beating other opponents. Their first and perhaps only major challenge before the final came when they faced Hungarian Ambassador Miklos Lengyel and Swiss Ambassador Jorg Al. Reding in qualifying matches. Team Czech managed to defeat defending champion Lengyel and his new partner 7-5.

Rain had been forecast for the day, but it dawned fine and the Mt. Nam site was a great setting for tennis with the warm sun and cool temperature.