11 Jun 2024

Local tennis player, Ntungamili Raguin, has set the tone for the Davis Cup to be held in Gaborone by winning a World ITF J30 tittle held in Kampala, Uganda. 

In the first leg of the tournament, he played against some of the finest tennis players in world, and he sailed through to the semi-finals after beating Nishit Arimilli of India 7-5 6-2. 

In the semi-finals, he faced Harry Cornhill of Great Britain and brushed him aside with 6-3,6-2, win to proceed to the finals where he unleashed the beast in him beating India’s Shaurya Swarup 6-1, 6-1, to be crowned the World ITF J30 double champion. 

Raguin continued with his good performance in the second leg, where he was once again drawn against the best, and he made his intention clear as he reached the quarterfinals by beating Megh Patel Maulik of India 6-0, 6-2. In the semi-finals he beat Daniel Jotia of Great Britain, 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the finals, which were played on Saturday.  

Raguin did not disappoint, winning the second title in a space of a week beating Ronin Gupta of India 6-3, 6-2. 

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president, Oaitse Thipe, said they were happy with Raguin’s performance. He said they were not surprised by his sterling performance in Uganda given that he had been doing well over the years, with good rankings.  Thipe said Raguin started playing tennis at a younger age, adding that he was one of the tennis players who managed to take part in high-level competitions among them,  the Les Petits tournament in France, which he said was played by Raphael Nadal, Coco Gauff before they rose to the top. 

“Last year Raguin won the Africa Junior Championship under 14 in Morocco, and followed up by winning the World ITF J30 in Ivory Coast. So this is his third J30 title,” he said.  Thipe said this year, he had been playing the Africa Junior Championships under 18, adding that winning the World ITF J30 back-to-back was a great achievement that would also raise his rankings from 615 in the World and he was likely to be in the lower 400.  Furthermore, the BTA president said Ranguin would  play the J100 in Zimbabwe  and J60 and he will also play the J60 on home soil before proceeding to South Africa where he will play in the J100. 

“This will help him in rankings, and that will put him in a contention for the Australian Junior Open in January,” he said.  Thipe said the BTA’s plan was that he should represent Botswana at the 2026 Youth Olympics to be held in Dakar, Senegal. 

In that regard, he said they were going to work with Botswana National Olympic Committee for him to be enrolled in the Olympic Solidarity so that he could be given all the assistance so as to reach the Youth Olympic. He said their wish was to see him competing at the Junior Grand Slam, US and French Open at least by next year or 2026.  “This will give him a better platform to launch his professional tennis after competing at the Junior Grand Slam and Junior Wimbledon,” he said. Thipe said the Botswana National Sports Commission had also helped Raguin in the past as he was enrolled in the Zebra Athletes Fund. END