19 May 2025

Botswana flag was on Saturday hoisted high at the World ITF 100 in Algeria, thanks to Ntungamili Raguin’s win.

Ntungamili won the men’s singles 6-0, 7-6 (10) against Amaury Abbas of France. 

His road to the victory was smooth, as he started by beating Yacine Menghari of Algerian 7-5, 6-2, in the singles quarterfinals match.

Tunisia’s Azziz Missaoui was also not spared Ntungamili’s blows, as the latter came with guns blazing and claimed a convincing 6-2, 6-0 to march to the finals.

Should he continue with his consistency, collect points in high ranking tournaments, Ntungamili might be the first Motswana ever to play at the Junior Granslam.

Botswana Tennis Association president, Oaitse Thipe expressed happiness, in an interview, that the player continued to make an indelible mark, wherever he competed.

This was Ntungamili’s first World ITF 100 tittle, therefore he will be given 100 points, which Thipe said would push the player’s ranking closer to top 200, adding that Ntungamili was on the right path to making it to the Grand Slams.

“After this tournament, he will spend a week recovering, after that he will compete in another J100 in Sweden,” he said.

Thipe said with his good performance, Ntungamili was also going to represent Botswana at the 2025 AUSC Region 5 Youth Games to be held in Windhoek, Namibia, from July 4-13.

“This year has been good for him in terms of performance, and we hope he will continue with this performance,” he said

Thipe said expectations were that the player would continue to collect points and qualify for Junior US Open in August, or at least qualify for the Australian Open in January.

Meanwhile in Bulawayo at the ITF J30 tournament, Botswana’s Rethabile Moshaoa and her South African partner Milan Swanepoel won the girls doubles beating Melissa Nanja Mwakha of Kenya and Chanelle Zuhwakini of Zimbabwe 6-1, 7-5 to be crowned champions. ENDS