Botswana out of ITF junior tournament
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday April 30, 2015 14:58
The tournament, which is dedicated to the late Euphemia Tlhapane who contributed a lot to the development of tennis in the country, started on Monday and runs until tomorrow. Thato Holmes is the only player who managed to the reach the second round of the singles while the rest were knocked out in the first round.
Holmes proceeded to the second round after beating Zimbabwean, Jason Chigaaizra 6-1, 1-6 and 6-2.
He, however, lost to South African Timothy Dollman in the second round. The South African, ranked 587th in the world outplayed Holmes 6-1 6-2 leaving Botswana without any player in the open tournament.
The Botswana female duo of Wada Maseko and Botho Tawana, ranked number 1808th in the ITF rankings, had a bye in the first round but was eliminated by Zimbabwean duo of Karen Machisa and Kaome Kaome.
Botswana fielded more than 10 players in the tournament. One of Botswana’s coaches Wellington Sibanda said despite the loss, Botswana players staged a brave fight and have shown improvement.
He further stated that since this is the players’ first international tournament of the year, they still have room for improvement.
The open tournament has attracted players from different parts of the world, which include Russia, Spain, Italy, Britain, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya.
“Due to the large number of players that turned out we ended up making some of the players to play qualifying matches to proceed,” said Botswana Tennis Association secretary general, Boikobo Gaolebalwe. The Euphemia Tlhapane Memorial ITF 11 gives players a chance to improve their world ITF rankings. The second leg of the tournament will be hosted in Namibia on May 4.