South Africa Dominates ITF Junior Championship
Dumisani Ncube | Monday May 4, 2015 15:01
The hosts, Botswana, bowed out of the tourney in the knock-out stages.
The South African team consisted of players that included Matthew Astell, Bertus Kruger, Nicole Pechey and Alexis Tensfeldt. The team sailed from the first round of the tournament, outclassing the likes of Botswana, France, Russia and Namibia.
The best match was the girls’ singles finals where Petchey overcame her compatriot, Lindsay Truscott 6-4, 3-6, 6- 1 in a thriller. The second leg of the ITF tournament is scheduled for Namibia from today till Saturday. Meanwhile, the Botswana junior technical manager, Trevor Modise was disappointed by the home team’s performance. “I am not really impressed by the way we played, but my hope lies in the Under-14 players who also took part in the tournament,” he said. Thato Holmes, Under-14, is the only Botswana player who performed well. The 13-year-old was knocked out in the second round by South African, Timothy Dollman. Modise stated that lack of proper tennis equipment and infrastructure contributed to Botswana’s poor performance at the tournament. “Most of players from other countries are in academies and they practise for close to six hours in a day, yet ours have poor resources which leads them to training for only two hours,” he urgued. He called on Botswana cricket authorities to invest in the Under-14 players adding that stakeholders including parents should play a role in ensuring that the young tennis players have proper equipment since the BCA does not have sufficient funds.