daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
TENNIS coach Terrence Mazungaire has hailed the junior team that competed at the just-ended ITF/CAT 16-and-Under and 14-and-Under tournament and came out second in Windhoek, Namibia.
The tournament got off with an individual event before going into the team event that ended over the weekend.
Zimbabwe were represented in both age-groups and the boys and girls’ teams made the finals in their respective age-groups.
However, they went down to South Africa to settle for second place.
“The team performed very well. They put up a good fight, and I am proud of them.
“We had chances to get a better result, but the South Africans handled the tough situations better than us.
“They need to play more tough tournaments, which will help them see the areas they need to work on and give them the opportunity to learn how to handle tough situations,” said Mazungaire.
The 14-and-Under boys lost 2-0, with Joel Badza losing 0-6, 0-6 to Nicholas Kruger while Divine Kaliofasi lost 2-6, 6-7 (1) to Tristan Summers. It was the same script for the girls as Emily George suffered a 1-6, 0-6 defeat at the hands of Lily Haley.
Her teammate Rutendo Tom went down 2-6, 3-6 to Leago Dube, for Zimbabwe to go down 0-2.
In the 16-and-Under boys category, Tendekai Msabaeka lost 2-6, 0-6 to Eathan Pieber, and Noah Samushonga was beaten 6-1, 7-5 by Hlumani Kekana, to lose the tie 0-2 to South Africa.
On the girls’ side, Zimbabwe lost 2-1, with Chanelle Zhuwakini losing 2-6, 6-7(6) to Roxy Bredenkamp while Simphiwe Malunguza had a good day on court when beating Jenna Theron 6-4, 6-3.
However, her efforts were not good enough as Malunguza and Zhuwakini went on to lose the doubles match 4-6, 5-7 to South Africa’s pair Bredenkamp and Theron.
Tennis Zimbabwe general manager Linsent Chitiyo said the results were encouraging.
“It’s encouraging and motivating for us as a nation. I think we are happy as a country with the performance of the team overall.
“Looking at the previous performance, I think this year you will notice that we have moved up compared to the previous years.
“The previous year, the age groups, we have been coming second and third in the age groups.
“But overall, now, you can see we did a bit of homework around our selections, and we improved, and the players lived up to our expectations,” said Chitiyo.
The national association is now waiting for confirmation on the players who have qualified for events such as the Africa Junior Championships, among other competitions.
“Now that we have competed, we are now waiting for the official communication.
“What we are highly anticipating, a minimum of nine athletes, they have qualified for a single AJC, which is going to be held in Kenya.
“And what is also encouraging in terms of the performance that the team has done, looking at it, it’s the first weeks of the year; not much has happened in terms of competitions around the country,” said Chitiyo.
They are also looking at the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games.
Other countries that took part were hosts Namibia, who came third; Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Lesotho, Mozambique, Angola, and Eswatini.
