Future stars out to shine at tourneys
THE region’s budding young tennis talents will get the chance to showcase their growing skills when they take part in the 2018 Primary and High School Interprovincial tournaments in Bloemfontein and Pretoria over the coming weekend.
A Team Eastern Cape, comprising of players from the Border region, has been selected in the U13, U15 and U19 age groups, with the 12-person teams featuring six boys and six girls.
“In the Eastern Cape there are two main playing regions from which teams have been selected, namely the Old Border, East London; Queenstown and Aliwal North and Old Eastern Province, Port Elizabeth; Uitenhage; Graaff-Reinet and Cradock,” said president of Tennis Eastern Cape, Neil Naidoo.
“As part of complying with the requirements of the National Sports and Recreation Plan the Border and Eastern Province names have been dropped in favour of one name, which is the Eastern Cape.
“The teams will be known as the Eastern Cape (Old Border) and Eastern Cape Elephants (Old Eastern Province).”
The Eastern Cape U13 team is in the yellow round-robin section, and will be playing off against KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Northern Cape.
The Eastern Cape U15 team is in the green round-robin section, and will come up against Eden, Gauteng Central and Zimbabwe, while the U19 team is also in the green round-robin section and will come up against Gauteng Central B, Gauteng North and North West Province.
An official send-off event was held this past Sunday, where the team together with its managers, coaches and parents were given a motivational talk by South African table tennis umpire Tiffany Adams, who has just returned from the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
The teams left yesterday. “Tennis Buffalo City would also like to thank the following: Nelius Cloete from Buffalo Toyota for sponsoring the bus to transport the U13s to Bloemfontein, Kirk Gibbons for the donation of a lamb as a fundraiser, and a special thanks to all the parents, coaches and managers for their tireless efforts to make this tour a success,” said Naidoo.
Team Eastern Cape is;
U13 Boys: Joshua Kleynhans, Nikhil Naidoo, Henco Fourie, Jordan Becker, Noah Cyganek, Lithabe Shweni
U13: Girls: Erin Peters, Kelly Emslie, Anjé van Pletzen, Kate van Heerden, Kesha Louw, Chantel Vosloo
Manager: Daliela Naidoo; Coach: Dean Peters
U15 Boys: Joseph Townes, Ethan Gibbons, Bryce Puchert, Siba Georges, Luyanda Nonqele, Keelun Hartley
U15 Girls: Jessica Marx, Devina Pillay, Annika Pretorius, Leah Jonas, Mbali Kuze, Crystal Shannon
Manager: Danesh Pillay; Coach: Avela Ndlabhu
U19 Boys: Samuel Townes, Sam McQuirk, Siphe Kempela, Thina Ndlabhu, Geo Hoffman, Simfumene Matomela
U19 Girls: Dayna Phillips, Sisipho Ndlabhu, Boitumelo Qinga, Simanya Wakashe, Khanyisa Mjalo, Lisa van Heerden
Manager: Dena Phillips; Coach: David Kempele