By Mr Ace Kindred Cheong

I REFER to the report "Petite 'Golden Flower' blooms" (my paper, July 3).

I am glad to read that Zheng Jie is playing well in Wimbledon. It has been quite some time since an Asian has come so far in an international tennis tournament - in fact, since Chinese- American Michael Chang won the French Open in 1989.

I used to play table tennis in school and thought of switching to tennis, but felt it was only for Westerners, who are of a bigger build.

It was Michael Chang who changed my perception, after I saw him beating Ivan Lendl in the quarter-finals and Stefan Edberg in the finals.

I was honoured to have met Maria Sharapova recently when she was in town for an exhibition match. I asked her via e-mail what Asian female tennis players have to do to be on par or even better than their Western counterparts. Her reply: There must be support and encouragement from her family and the government.

I am happy that Zheng Jie has come so far and she has played very well to earn her place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon after defeating many top players.

Zheng Jie is the pride of China and Asia alike.

For more my paper stories click here.