14 Jul 2016

Players from nine countries in the Southern Africa region have registered to compete in the 2016 Botswana Tennis Open Championships which will get underway at the Notwane Tennis Centre tomorrow.

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) public relations officer Shelton Benzah said that there was massive interest in the tournament, with over 140 players having filled registration forms by Wednesday. 

The association was expecting numbers to increase before closure of registration today (Friday 15 July).

“We have had good response from tennis players. Right now 63 players from Botswana have registered and 72 players from outside have also confirmed their participation,” Benzah said in an interview on Wednesday.

He stated that foreign players include those from South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Namibia.

Top local players who have already confirmed participation in the competition include the country’s highest rated player Phenyo Matong, Lefa Sibanda, Aobakwe Lekang and Bathani Moilwa.

The draw for the competition, the biggest tennis Championships in Botswana, will be conducted after closure of registration today (Friday).

The competition will be played in singles, doubles, mixed doubles and veterans’ categories.

Matong is the two times defending champion of the men’s singles having won it consecutively in 2013 and 2014. 

The championships were not played last year.

Long time sponsors of the championships, Motor Centre Botswana recently announced that it had increased sponsorship of this year’s edition to P178, 850.

The winner of the men’s singles will walk away with P10, 000 while the runner-up will get P6, 000. 

The ladies singles champion will get P5, 000 with the runner-up P3, 000. 

The men’s doubles champion will get P6, 000 while the ladies doubles champion will get P3, 000. The champion for veterans’ singles category will get P2, 000, while champion for the veterans’ doubles will get P1, 000. 

The finals will be held on Tuesday. ENDS