04 Jan 2018

Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) will start the year by hosting a nine-day Africa Junior Championships regional tournament for Southern Africa featuring 11 countries.

The tournament will commence at Notwane Tennis Courts on Sunday morning with the finals set to be played on February 15.

The competition will be played in individual and team events in the under 14 and 16 categories.

The competition is a grade four tournament played under the auspices of International Tennis Federation and the Confederation of Africa Tennis (CAT) and participating players will earn ranking points.

According to the BTA secretary general, Tefo Tefo, the 11 countries that will participate in the competition are Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi and Angola.

He further explained that the competition would be used as qualifier for the 2018 Africa Junior Championships, which will be hosted by South Africa in April.

“The top four countries from the tournament will qualify for the Africa Junior Championships, where they will play against the top four countries from other Confederation of Africa Tennis regions, which include the north, east and west regions,” Tefo said in an interview yesterday.

Tefo further said the best players in the individual events will qualify for the Africa Junior Championships regardless of whether their countries have qualified or not.

He said Botswana as hosts would field two teams in every category while the rest of participants would field one team per category.

The players selected to represent team Botswana include Tsholofelo Tsiang, Loago Saleshando and Thabang Mosupi (boys under 16 team A), Denzel Seetso, Batsomi Marobela and Jonathan Gaetsaloe (boys under 14 team A), Tshegofatso Tsiang, Thato Madikwe and Anele Maplanka (girls under 16 team A), Leungo Monnayoo, Atshele Phatshwane and Lily Poely (girls under 14 team A).

Team B includes Kao Lenkopane, Katlego Mogorosi and Abia Bleskit (boys under 16), Mark Nawa, Oabona Keobatlile and Arnold Bleskit (boys under 14), Amantle Dishebo, Kefilwe Sebitola and Keoratile Gwapela (girls under 16), Leungo Gaobotse, Pearl Mokibelo and Bangu Moekejo (girls under 14). ENDS