Local players shine at Motor Centre Open

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Thursday July 22, 2010 00:00

 

Botswana's Tapiwa Marobela emerged victorious in the women's singles beating Montlhwa Pinkie of Lesotho 6-1, 6-0. Thabiso Mabaka reached the finals of the men's singles where he lost 7-5, 6-2 and 6-4 to Edgar Kazembe of Zambia.

'I am 70 percent pleased with the performance of the local players. It has been a long time since we won the tournament and we had prepared thoroughly for it,' he said. He said that Marobela has the potential to go far and Mabaka reached the final despite an injury he suffered at the tournament.

He stated that Mabaka had to be rushed to Gaborone Private Hospital the day before the singles' finals after falling and breaking his finger while playing in the doubles.

He said the player was giving everything in the doubles and ended up injuring himself when he fell. Amanze said it was a fantastic performance by Mabaka considering that he was not 100 percent fit.

He said he was happy that the BTA organised an event that everyone was pleased with and the turn-out was good. He said about 80 tennis players were involved in the BISA games over the holidays and therefore could not make it to the Motor Centre event. 'But still the turnout was more than what we expected,' he said.

He stated that in terms of prize money, the Motor Centre Open is the second most lucrative tournament in the region behind the South African Open.

He said this year, the prizes improved compared to the previous competitions. 'For example, the winner in the men's veterans used to get around P500 but this year, he was getting P1,175,' he said.

The winners in the main categories received P4,700. Amanze added that as they are not allowed to award the winners in the junior categories money, they gave them shopping vouchers. This will enable the youngsters to buy sports gear. Motor Centre sponsored the annual event with P108,000.