The packed weekend

Baiduri Bank will be ending the year on a high note after it received its fifth award this year, the much sought-after Bank of The Year award from The Banker magazine. For 90 years, The Banker has been the world’s longest running international banking publication and leading monthly journal of record for the banking industry.

The Banker ‘Bank of the Year Awards’ is often regarded as the “Oscars of the Banking Industry”. This year’s The Banker Awards 2015 was held at Hilton London Bankside, London on Wednesday, 2 December. Mr Pierre Imhof, CEO of Baiduri Bank was in London to receive the coveted award at the annual awards ceremony.

Baiduri Bank is a ten-time recipient of the ‘Bank of the Year for Brunei’. The recognition of being named Bank of the Year in the country by The Banker is testament to the strong management, sound business model and prudent risk approach of the bank. Speaking on receiving the accolade, Mr Pierre Imhof said, “It is a wonderful feeling to end the year with this achievement. For the tenth time since 2002, we are proud to be awarded as the Bank of the Year for Brunei.” He further elaborated, “At every one of our milestones, there have been three common factors – our faithful employees, loyal customers and partners and it is with their support and confidence that we are the bank we are today.”

Mr Pierre Imhof, CEO of Baiduri Bank, receiving the award in London

The Banker Awards Ceremony is attended by representatives from over 120 banks across the world, which is a reflection of the importance which banks put on winning The Banker’s ‘Bank of the Year Awards’.

Baiduri Bank has also received four other international awards earlier this year, the ‘Domestic Retail Bank Brunei 2015’ and ‘Mobile Banking Initiative Brunei 2015’ from the Asian Banking and Finance magazine, the ‘Best Banking Group 2015’ from World Finance magazine and ‘Safest Bank in Brunei 2015’ from Global Finance. Baiduri Bank is proud to support and be associated with some of the leading international banking awards.

Arun Ravi Kumar, Timothy Lim, Zen Sii and Md Nurul Andi Hambali in a group photo at the 52nd Brunei ITF Junior Circuit at the National Tennis Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas last Tuesday. Image courtesy of Yee Chun Leong of The Brunei Times.

This is the 52nd International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit Group 5 and I’ve been attending the matches especially in the mornings. This is the time you will witness high level quality of tennis and I wish how I could like them one day. They are least 25 years younger than me and so much stamina indeed. I don’t think I can even last them on the court for a set.

As for Brunei representatives, we are still far away from reaching the level of other regional countries. It has to go down to grass root levels if Brunei were to make an impact in the international scene and judging from what I see, we don’t have the resources to provide that opportunity for the young players. The ITF Junior Circuit ranges from age 15 to under 18 so I would believe that other regional countries will have dedicated youth academies to train when they are still a kid.

The closest talented young star that Brunei has produced in recent years is Aiman Abdullah who made his mark when he was 14 years old. Back in 2010, he made Brunei history as he made to the 3rd round of the ITF and no other Bruneians made it that far. Now he is a full time coach under the Brunei Darussalam Tennis Association and also helping out with the current ITF tournament held at National Tennis Court of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex.

This year, none of the Brunei representatives made it past the first round. The closest result was Arun Ravi Kumar who lost in 3 sets to Ryan Lee of Malaysia. Arun shared that the heat conditions played a factor in his gameplay. As you can see, none of the players trained in such hot conditions as most of the training happens in the late afternoon. Furthermore, all of them are still focusing on their studies which makes it difficult to train so they condition their bodies to accommodate the heat.

Another Brunei representative Timothy Lim failed to capitalise as he lost 6-3 6-0 to Jimmy Liong of Malaysia. I could see that Timothy was struggling in the second set and this is due to his fitness level. His first serve slowed down gradually and his opponent punished him, quickly ending the match. Other results, Zen Sii and Md Nurul Andi Hambali lost to Lin Guangzian of Chinese-Taipei and D Giritharan Devendiran of Singapore 6-0 6-0 respectively.

Tomorrow will be the semi-finals for the Boys and Girls Single and followed by the doubles championship matches. The matches will start at 9am tomorrow at National Tennis Court of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex and you are more than welcome to witness some great tennis.

Both players negotiating on points in their match recently

Mi Ryung Gwak surviving the heat and she won her first round match

Cholis H of Indonesia seeded 15 reached the last 16 before losing to the No.1 seed Soomin Kim of Korea

Ming Rui tabulating the results on the board

Timothy Lim of Brunei returning the ball. He lost in straight sets in the opening round.

Arun Ravi Kumar coached by Aiman Abdullah did quite well in the first set but eventually lost in rubber to Ryan Lee of Malaysia

Dunlop is the official ball for the ITF Junior Circuit

Elisa Hirn of Finland lost to Hadiati of Indonesia in the first round

One talented kid, Christian Didier Chin of Malaysia rose up the rank but he is still lacking in mental strength, losing 6-2 6-0 in the last sixteen to Shinji Hazawa yesterday