01 Feb 2022

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) has sent four players to school in the United States of America (USA).

The four players: Thato Madikwe, Kao Lenkopane, Tsholofelo Tsiang and Tshegofatso Tsiang have secured tennis scholarships in the USA.

Thato secured elite tennis scholarship from University of Minnesota, where she would be pursuing Medical Science Laboratory, while Kao will be based at the University of Ozarks in Kansas where he would be studying Bachelor of Business Administration.

Tsholofelo would be studying Liberal Arts Sciences at Cowley Community College, while Tshegofatso is in Barton College and had not yet chosen her major subject, both colleges are in Kansas.

BTA president, Oaitse Thipe, saids USA colleges were always looking for talented players, therefore the quartet secured scholarships through their consistent good results from the past few years.

College tennis, he said, was competitive and a platform to turning professional, adding that this was a good development for Botswana tennis. 

“A lot of upcoming tennis players would be inspired by all those who went overseas,” he said.

Thipe said owing to last year’s performance at the African Championships, Botswana was now ranked number four in Africa and he attributed that to having a good number of players plying their trade in USA colleges and universities.

He also noted that BTA had been working tirelessly to develop players from a tender age.

Thipe urged players wishing to secure tennis scholarships to be disciplined and work hard and pleaded with parents to send their children for tennis programmes at a tender age, so that they could have a solid foundation. 

BOPA