Wheelchair Tennis SA’s tale of shame
● Seasoned wheelchair tennis player Kgothatso Montjane not only achieved the notable milestone of reaching the Wimbledon semifinals, but did so while travelling on her own and without a coach.
This revelation on Facebook and a subsequent radio interview elicited a visceral public response towards Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA).
The organisation’s national public relations manager Anthony Moruthane said that a severe lack of funds forced the organisation’s hand and Montjane travelling alone was not an act of malice.
According to Moruthane, WTSA has been staring down the financial barrel since it lost the Airports Company South Africa sponsorship 18 months ago.
Montjane, who received a wildcard for Wimbledon, lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Diede de Groot of the Netherlands 6-1 7-5.
“We’ve been faced with financial constraints in order to get the players to travel to international tournaments. KG travelled alone but thanks to Sascoc (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee), she’s been able to get to events,” Moruthane said.
“Montjane was awarded the Wimbledon wildcard on June 20 and we went knocking on doors and we looked for funding for her. We were helped by the WDB Trust with a generous amount of money to help Kgothatso travel to the French Open. She went there with a coach through those funds, but with the money left over from that trip we weren’t able to afford the coach. Our players have always been travelling with coaches but the funding has been very difficult. We had arranged a coach for her in the UK.”
Moruthane said Sascoc has come to their aid but things could improve next year with an expected cash injection from the National Lottery Board.
Moruthane said WTSA would need more help from the corporate sector to ensure it was able to get the other players to travel and invest in its development programmes.
“Since the loss of the Acsa sponsorship, players like Kgothatso and Lucas Sithole have been helped by Sascoc in a number of tournaments. There have been other donors that have helped with other programmes. We don’t get money from the National Lottery and we don’t get it from anyone else. Difficult decisions had to be made to get players like Kgothatso on tour,” Moruthane said.
“National Lottery, who we haven’t had contact with since 2010, will be coming on board with about R500 000 for the players to travel overseas, but for a player like Kgothatso to play regularly you’re looking at R750 000 to R1-million for one player.”