Tennis teenagers excel in SA
Denzel Seetso, Ekua Refilwe and Chelsea Chakanyuka were in fine form at the recent J3 Johannesburg ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors hosted in South Africa; the players have done a sterling job considering that sport has been suspended locally.
Seetso continued his brilliant form as he defeated Guy Vorwerk ( RSA) 6 - 4, 6 - 3 to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament. He went on to face the no. 3 seed and World number 255 ( Junior Ranking) Attila Boros of Hungary for a place in the semi- finals.
On the other hand, Ekua Refilwe put up a great fight against no. 7 seed, Tayla Wilmont ( RSA) in their 2nd round match. She won the first set 7 - 5 but lost the next two 4 - 6 and 2 - 6 respectively.
Chelsea Chakanyuka also lost in the 2nd round to Mikayla Plitt ( RSA) 6 - 2, 6 - 2. However, Chelsea and Ekua reached the Doubles Quater finals and their brilliant performance saw them beat Nadia Gouws and Che Nel ( RSA) 6 - 3, 6 - 3.
Batsomi Marobela and his partner, Daniel Crowie ( RSA) won 6- 2 6- 7( 4) 14- 12 to reach the boys’ doubles quarterfinals.
Loago Saleshando and Mark Nawa lost their first round match 6 - 1, 6 - 2 to Lwazi Ngwenya and Logan Stoltz ( RSA).
Speaking in an interview, Botswana Tennis Association ( BTA) President, Oaitse Thipe said the tournament gave the team exposure and an opportunity to go back and work even harder to do better next time.
Quizzed if the performance was inspiring, he had this to say: “Yes, considering that they haven’t been playing a lot of tournaments and sports has been regularly closed in the country,” he said.
Denzel Seetso continues to dominate the scenes, both internationally and locally. The 16 year old was crowned champion in the Botswana Open Men’s Single category after an intense final against Thato Holmes, a few months back.