Francistown launches Tati Nickel Young Stars tournament

Faith Siako | Monday August 24, 2015 14:14

The launch was held at the Francistown Tennis Club courts. The public relations officer of Tati Nickel, Tebogo Rapitsenyane said their company partnered with the Francistown School of Tennis to support sports activities in Francistown.

He said they have realised that sports like tennis and golf were not given priority in Botswana hence they want to close the gap and give these codes the same recognition that others enjoy. “People also think that tennis and golf are sports for rich kids only therefore we want to eliminate these thoughts,” he said, adding that they want to make tennis accessible to every child in Francistown. Rapitsenyane said the partnership was also to assist Francistown School of Tennis nurture children in tennis because talent was better discovered early. He also said Tati Nickel brought one of the best couches in the world to train players at the academy.

He said Francistown School of Tennis should become a high performance centre that produces tennis professionals who can compete with international champions.

The founder and director of the school of tennis, Dominique Raguin commended Tati Nickel for helping sponsor the coach, Anthony Claudot.

“Tati Nickel covers some of the costs of Claudot, who is from France and now based in the school of tennis on full time bases to train the players,” he said.

Raguin said the partnership would have an annual tournament called Tati Nickel young stars tournament that would attract best players from Southern Africa countries. The tournament is for players aged 10 and below. Between September 3 and 5, the tennis school will host a tournament in which its best players will be up against their Zimbabwean counterparts. The goal of the tournament will be to bring international players to Francistown instead of taking Batswana players to other countries at all times, which is costly.