11 May 2014

The Francistown School of Tennis players performed impressively in the Under 10s and 12a junior tournaments held in Zimbabwe recently.

The tournaments, which lasted a month and dubbed Arenel Wimbledon Harare Junior Open and Zimbabwe Closed Tournament, had over 170 entries.

In an interview, the team`s director, Dominique Raguin said the team comprised of Mini-Tennis (Red Balls) Boys - Mwaita Mukudu, Ntungamili Raguin, and Osho Foya-Moore.

The Under 10 Orange Balls Boys was made up of Michael Hove. Naledi Ragui was the only girl. The Under 10 Green Balls Boys had Lesedi Raguin and Mark Nawa while the Under 12 had only Tatenda Mukudu. After easily winning the doubles title with Aelia Mahboub Agha, Naledi played an epic final in the singles tournament. 

Led 3-5 by her opponent Tamira Nashe, from Harare, Naledi fought hard to come back and tally the score to5-5 before taking the lead duringher service. Tamira reacted and saved a match point to equalize at 6-6.

During the tie-break, Naledi had two more match points which were saved by her opponent and it was then her opponent’s turn to have three consecutive match points.

After easily saving the first two, Naledi had to resort to all her substance in order to save the 3rd match point against her through a spectacular dive. A few tears and a big bruise later, she was back on the court to take the lead at 11-10. 

The fourth match point in her favour was the right one as she won this superb final with a  stunning score of 7-6 (12-10).

In addition to Naledi’s titles in the Orange Balls Singles and Doubles tournaments, Lesedi Raguin distinguished herself as one of the best players in the Under 10 Green Balls category, winning a bronze medal in singles and a silver medal in doubles. 

Mwaita Mukudu added to the joy of the team by reaching the semi-finals in the mini-tennis red balls tournament. The tournament, being the junior tournament awarded the most points in Tennis Zimbabwe rankings.  This presented an opportunity for the Francistown School of Tennis players to gauge themselves against the best Zimbabwean players. 

While seven-year-old Naledi was now competing in the green balls category, her brother Lesedi had a wonderful play in the Under 10 Green Balls Doubles tournament in association with Marko Milosavljevic, from Baseline Tennis Academy in Harare.  Having reached the semi-finals, Lesedi and Marko were ultimately defeated in a very disputed match by the future winners of the doubles tournament, Ethan Sibanda and Mengezi Sibanda. 

After close to two hours of play, Lesedi and Marko were defeated on the score of 5-7, 6-4, 8-10.

While Lesedi and Marko were embattled in the doubles tourney, Mwaita Mukudu and Ntungamili Raguin were proving themselves to be up to par with the best Zimbabwean youngsters, winning a beautiful bronze medal in the mini-tennis red balls doubles tournament.

Other Francistown School of Tennis players also shined in the doubles such as Michael Hove in association with Antony Mazvimba from Harare and reached the semi-finals in the Under 10 Orange Balls category. 

In the singles, Ntungamili Raguin reached the semi-finals while Lesedi Raguin lost to Lyle Zaloumis, the winner of the recent End of Year Babolat Mini-Series held in Francistown. Ends