21 Jun 2021

Botswana men’s national tennis team will feature in the Davis Cup Africa Zone Group IV tournament, which started yesterday in Brazzaville, Congo.

The team is made up of Tsholofelo Tsiang, Tshepo Mosarwa, Denzel Seetso, Thato Holmes and is led by coach, Petrus Molefhe, as captain.

Botswana is in Pool A, which is made up of Namibia, Uganda, Congo and Angola.

In an interview with BOPA recently, Molefe said they could had benefited from a lengthy training camp, but it was not possible due to financial constraints, adding that lack of competitions locally and regionally, due to COVID-19 restrictions, also disadvantaged them in terms of preparations.

The coach said under normal circumstances, the team could have played few international games prior to the tournament, but they ‘just had to accept the situation and adjust’.

Molefhe said they had chosen a young team, with the youngest player, Seetso being 16 and the other three players, being 20.

He added that Holmes was the only player with a Davis Cup cap, having played his first Davis Cup in 2019, when he was only 18.

He said the idea behind choosing young players was to build a future team and urged the nation to rally behind them as they make a mark in the tennis world.

The coach was optimistic that the team would do well.

Botswana Tennis Association president, Oaitse Thipe was optmistic that the tournament would provide the players with an opportunity to hone their skills for the Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Tunisia in October. ENDS