Botswana bounces in Davis Cup

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Correspondent | Thursday August 16, 2007 00:00

 

Botswana beat Andorra and Rwanda but lost against top seeds Montenegro and Armenia. In the opening match, the Botswana team of Bokang Setshogo and Phenyo Matong lost to Montenegrins Daniel Danilovic and Nemanja Kontic in the singles and doubles. The two Botswana players were felled by Armenians, Hovannes Davtyan and Harutyun Sofyan in the singles but teamed up to win the doubles. Coach Mthandazo Sibanda eventually got his first victory against Andora with the same players - Setshogo and Matong. They followed it up with a 2-1 victory against Rwanda. Ernest Seleke was the only other Botswana player to feature in the tournament. Another member of the team Onkabetse Matong, who like his elder brother, Phenyo, is based in the USA, could not make it.

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president Monkami Masale said the team's qualification to Group Three is definitely something they should celebrate. 'Our critics never imagine us winning promotion back to the Group Three. The team arrived on Tuesday night in jovial mood. We must congratulate coach Sibanda upon turning our fortunes around,' said Masale, who was recently retained as the BTA president.
The success of the team would come as a morale booster to Sibanda more especially after the previous BTA committee declined to take the women's team to the Fed Cup early this year. The officials felt that he had failed to develop the team.