03 Nov 2021

National team junior tennis players are competing in various International Tennis Federation (ITF) Under 18 tournaments in preparation for the Africa Junior Championships and the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 games.

The U-18 Africa Junior Championships will be played in Tunisia from November 22 to 28 November followed by the U-16 championships  still in Tunisia from November 29 to December 3.

The AUSC Region 5 Games have been scheduled for Lesotho in December.

Mark Nawa and Oabona Koobatlile are competing in the ITF Grade 4 games in Zimbabwe while Denzel Seetso is also playing in the ITF Grade 4 games in Kenya.

Naledi Raguin and Ekua Refilwe Youri are playing in the ITF Grade 5 tournaments in France and Spain respectively.

Chelsea Chakanyuka, Seetso and Youri have in the past few months competed in the ITF Grade 2 and 3 events in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

In an interview, Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president, Oaitse Thipe, highlighted that Nawa, Seetso, Batshomi Marobela, Youri, Raquin and Chakanyuka have qualified for the Africa Junior Championships and would all be in Tunisia to represent the country.

He said all the players, except Marobela, would thereafter compete in the Under-16 Africa Championships.

Thipe said the team would travel to Lesotho from Tunisia for the AUSC games.

He added that two other players would join them to bring the team to eight members.

He said he was optimistic that the team would perform well at both events.

The BTA president also highlighted that Youri recently won the ITF U-18 tournament in Spain by beating the number one seed, Sarah Tatu of Britain.

The president also said all the players were products of the long term athlete development plan, adding that they were identified from a tender age.

“We are now starting to see results of this plan. They are currently doing well in the international stage,” he said.

He said their aim was to see the players competing in big international events such as the French open and Olympics.

He appealed to the cooperate world to sponsor tennis in order for the team to reach international standards.

“This would be a win-win situation as the sponsors’ brands will be exposed in the international stage,” he said. Ends