Under-12 tennis team off to Harare

MOGOMOTSI BUZWANI
Correspondent | Friday September 3, 2010 00:00

Coached by Wellington Sibanda, the team left for Zimbabwe by road on Wednesday.

Kaone Montshiwa from Gaborone, Kitso Letang (Selebi-Phikwe), and brothers Laone and Kagiso Sebakile from Molepolole are in the squad. Montshiwa is the only girl in the side.

Sibanda said the three boys have in the past three years shown much potential. 'They have been with us for the past 36 months and have shown a lot of potential. Kaone, too, is a good player. They have developed from the mini-tennis programme and now they are playing the game at a higher level even though this will be their first time to compete abroad,' Sibanda said.

 Players who perform well in Zimbabwe will be sent to the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa.

'The circuit will be used to identify talented players from various countries who will go to the High Performance Centre in Pretoria,' he said.

 Participating countries include hosts Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Mauritius and South Africa.

The Under-14 side will join their junior counterparts in Zimbabwe on September 7 for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit.

Meanwhile, the Francistown Open will be held from September 30 to October 3.

Chairman of the organising committee, Rajaram Rangaswamy, said the tournament would be divided into three categories, these being the Veterans for players aged 35 and above, the Open Championship for ages 18-34 years and the Junior Categories for players between the ages of 10 and 18.

The Francistown College of Technical Education (FCTE), John Mackenzie High School and Francistown Club courts will be used for the tournament.