09 Sep 2024

 Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) will send Malak Macheng and Tinashe Phatshwane to represent the country at the coming African Junior Championships on Clay Court (AJCCC) 14 years and under to be held in Morocco from September 11-16.

BTA president, Oaitse Thipe, speaking in an interview said that they were confident that the two players would leave a mark in Morocco. 

He said early this year, the players also took part in the ITF CAT under-14 hard court championship in Togo, adding that this would be their second participation in the junior championships. 

The 11-year-old Macheng said the experienced she gained playing at the hard court championships in Togo would come handy for her in Morocco. 

“I think I played very well there although I lost some of the matches. I picked where I made some mistakes,” she said. 

Macheng said now expectations are that she would perform very well going into yet another tournament. 

Phatshwane, who is 12-years-old, said he played very well in Togo, and he was aware that the next tournament is different and hence there is still room for improvement. 

Thipe said some of the countries that have confirmed participation include amongst others, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. 

Meanwhile in their effort to give the players exposure, the BTA has never missed any opportunity to send them to high profile tournaments. 

Just recently, they sent a team of six players to the ITF/CAT 12 and under competition, which was held in Maputo, Mozambique. Ends.