STOMPer Mark is unhappy that a local referee for the Singapore International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament refused to reschedule a match so his 16-year-old brother can participate.

The STOMPer explains the situation:

"In the Singapore ITF tournament, my brother, Sean Lee Wei Yi, has made it to the semi-finals of the doubles. He is the only Singaporean left in the competition against international players.

"The competition started last weekend and he has since been juggling his studies, the competition and training. He is taking the 'O' Levels Higher Chinese paper today.

"The match schedule for today was released last night. He was supposed to play the last match of the day at 11am. However, his 'O' Level paper only finishes at 12.40pm.

"Before the competition started, we had raised this point to the Tournament Director and he had assured us that doubles matches would usually be played in the afternoon.

"However, only two matches had been scheduled for today and the tournament referee decided they should both be held in the morning.

"We appealed to Singapore Tennis Association as well as the tournament referee to delay the match by awhile so that the 16-year-old Singaporean boy can rush down to the match immediately after his paper, and they refused.

"The tournament ref simply said, 'I am the authority and I'm not changing the schedule. My decision is final.'

"We then appealed to the Singapore Sports Council and they sent to of their representatives down to speak to the referee personally, and again he said, 'I've decided, my decision is final. I'm not going to help,' and then he just walked off into the courts.

"We even called the International Tennis Federation for help and they said that while they cannot tell him what to do. But they did clarify that the referee has the power to change the match schedule when there is a valid and compelling reason.

"What is utterly disappointing is that here we have our truly home-grown Singaporean talent who is struggling to juggle sports and studies at such a tender age and yet our own Singaporean referee has refused to help him.

"My brother is now sitting for his 'O' Level Higher Chinese paper, unsure of whether he can play the match after the paper.

"Thanks to the SSC for trying their best to talk to the Singapore Tennis Association that obviously does not support local players."