LOCAL TENNIS STARS SHINE
Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) has made impressive strides to bridge the gap amongst the elite in Africa and indeed in the world. Recent International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament, which was held in South Africa, Cape Town, saw the local talents raise their game to upset some of their highly ranked opponents.
European based ,Ekua Refilwe, showed glimpses of her potential as she beat the tournament’s 7th seed, Natasha Schou of Denmark, who is ranked number 201 in the world whilst Ekua was ranked 1379 in the ITF junior world ranking.
BTA sent eight (8) athletes to Zimbabwe, where they are currently competing in the ITF/CAT (Confederation of African Tennis) junior circuit. The other team is expected to compete in a number of ITF junior tournaments, under 16, in Nairobi, Kenya next month as they look to accumulate points to improve their rankings.
As the association looks to help athletes improve their rankings and expose them to high level competition, Oaitse Thipe, BTA President, has emphasized the need to partake in higher level tournament and revealed that they are looking to qualify four (4) athletes to Africa Junior Championships finals (under 16 & 18) which will be held in Tunisia from the 22nd of November until December 2, 2021.
“Our aim is to qualify at least four athletes to the Africa Junior Championships, only top 24 ranked players will automatically qualify for the finals, and we are hopeful that in the tournaments, our athletes are currently competing in, they can accumulate points to improve their rankings. The higher you are ranked, there are chances of automatic qualification,” he said. “Denzel Seetso, Mark Nawa, Ekua Youri and Chelsea Chakanyuka are some of the athletes we are hopeful can qualify. Ekua did well in Cape Town, won four matches in a row and caused upsets. So the preparations were good and the tournament was highly competitive, we are confident that we will do well,” Thipe explained.
Denzel and Ekua stand a chance to qualify for both the under 16 and under 18 categories at the African Junior Championships. Success at the African Junior Championships can help local players to qualify for major tennis finals such as Wimbledon finals.
Mass participation is regarded as a key component to development in any sport, Oaitse highlighted that the success of their current athletes can go a long way to promote their development path. “If you look at our grassroots, they need to have elite athletes whom they can look up to. We need to have role models so that the young ones can idolize them; this will also hype our game and attract more participation at grassroots level,” Thipe noted. BTA are having a busy schedule; after the African Junior Championships, AUSC Region 5 tournament in Lesotho will be on the horizon. With the COVID-19 pandemic still causing mayhem amongst nations, BTA President shared that they are looking to engage Botswana National Sports Commission to make arrangements for their athletes to be vaccinated. “We will do our best to have our players vaccinated. AUSC Region 5 has asked for all players to be vaccinated. Most of our players are 16 years and we are hopeful to have them vaccinated,” he said. The government of Botswana vaccination rollout programme is currently catering for persons aged 18 years and above.