06 Aug 2014

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) has stepped up preparations for this year’s Africa Zone Group III Davis Cup qualifiers following selection of the team that will represent the country at the annual competition.

A selection process was recently held at the National Tennis Centre and two players including the Motor Centre Botswana Tennis Open 2014 champion, Phenyo Matong and Shingirai Muzondiwa were selected for the singles category. Thabiso Mabaka and Lame Botshoma got the nod for the doubles category.

BTA public relations officer, Trevor Modise explained that the team was already preparing for the competition which will be staged next month. “All four players are currently undergoing intensive training under the watchful eye of our Davis Cup captain, Peter Nthele,” said Modise on Tuesday (August 5).

The competition will be held at the Smash Tennis Academy in Cairo, Egypt from 6 to 14 September. Modise said the team would leave for Cairo on September 1. Other teams in the Africa Zone Group III are Algeria, Benin, Congo, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.

Countries that finish in the top two positions would be promoted to the Europe/Africa Group II for next year. Davis Cup is the largest annual international team’s competition in tennis in the world with 122 nations set to compete in it this year.

After commencing as a competition between the United States of America and Great Britain in 1900, the competition was expanded over the years.

At the top of the pyramid is the 16 nations World Group, and below it nations have been divided into regional groups with promotion and relegation at stake every year.

Last year, Botswana defeated Zambia 3-0 and lost to Nigeria (1-2) and Egypt (0-3) respectively in the round-robin stage. The team comprising Matong, Muzondiwa and Innocent Tidimane went on to beat Kenya 2-1 in the 9-12th place playoffs. ENDS